


The Girl Who Got Away (But Didn't)

by Gallagher8



Category: MI - Fandom, Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2019-10-18 08:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 40,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17577344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallagher8/pseuds/Gallagher8
Summary: Kensi O'Connell is another agent at the IMF, when shot by other agents she is set on revenge. This is a William Brandt love story along with a little Ethan Hunt fling at the beginning. It does flow into Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation AND Fallout (currently writing). I don't own anything related to the movies, however, the characters and dialogue created are mine.





	1. Chapter 1

Hi my name is Kensi O'Connell, I am currently undercover with no special assignment. I've been in Prague compiling information concerning a new up and coming nuclear arms dealer that could be a potential terrorist group. It was late at night and I was heading home from a very long day from meeting with a contact that I had within the group. He didn't give me very much new information so overall the day was pretty unproductive.

I had met the group earlier that month and the leader seemed to have a liking to me so I was invited to stay around for a while, as his girlfriend. I finally got to my apartment building, sighing as I opened up my door. I plopped down on the couch where my computer was sitting. Though it was late I needed to send an email back to headquarters, to let them know about my progress and notes on the group. Right when I was going to send the email, my phone rang. Who would be calling this number, it was a number set up for my cover, as far as I knew nobody knew it. I answered not exactly knowing what to expect.

"Hello?"  
"Hey Kens it's Ethan."   
"Ethan! God it's been forever since I've talked to you."   
"I know your on a mission. But I have something more important that requires your special attention."   
"What are you talking about?" I inquired.  
"I need your help with my own mission."   
"Listen Hunt, I can't just leave this to rot." I growled at him.   
"I know, I talked to the director, they said that you will abandon this and come with me. You just need to send them your latest notes, they'll get someone to replace you. If you don't believe me call them." Ethan said.   
"Okay, okay fine. What do you want me to do?" I asked.  
"Well I can't tell you over the phone, so I will meet you outside of St. Nicholas Church in Prague in 30 minutes." He told me.  
"Ok I'll meet you there, I'm leaving now." I replied as I hit send on the email to HQ.  
"Oh and Kensi?"   
"Yes?"   
"Make sure to pack your weapons, your laptop will self destruct in 5 seconds. See you soon." I hung up quickly after Ethans last words. I instantly grabbed my gun and secured it in the waistband of my jeans and grabbed my go bag. Then walked out the door of my apartment and started down the street to St. Nicolas Church, wondering what Ethan had in store for me.

"Ethan?" I asked quietly while I was walking around the outside of the church trying to find him in the almost complete dark except for the streetlights surrounding the church. I pulled my hood up over my head and walked in the shadows. Suddenly I felt an arm go around my shoulders and a hand cover my mouth so if I had screamed it would have been muffled, but I didn't. The person's arm spun me around so I was facing them. It was Ethan, just as I had suspected.  
"Hey..." Ethan Hunt said suprised that I had grown up since I was a little 16 year old girl when he had first met me and last saw me. He pulled his hand off my mouth and engulfed me in a hug. I smiled as I squeezed him back.  
"Hey Ethan... What's the mission?" I asked him, slightly aware he probably wouldn't tell me here.   
"Not here." He said to me. I gave him questioning eyes.  
"I'll explain later." he replied. I looked at what he was wearing, jeans, a grey shirt and a black hoodie, he looked good.  
"Its good to see you too." I said to him. He smiled at me and grabbed my hand leading me down the low lit street and to a black van.


	2. Chapter 2

He opened the van door and hopped in with me. 

"Listen I know you don't exactly enjoy flying so I have a little thing to help you through that." He said as he poked something into my neck and I blacked out. It was dark when I woke up. Wait when did I fall asleep? That little sneak drugged me! Wait let's not jump to conclusions, I thought to myself, maybe not. Lets see, I remembered Ethan leading me to the black van that was conspicuously hidden in an alley. I remember getting in, then nothing. As a spy that is pitiful, I groaned. Ok maybe someone knocked me out, no reason to get upset. I opened my eyes hesitantly, I knew that I was lying on a bed the covers were soft like silk covering me. I felt a pressure around my waist, I tried to tear away from it but couldn't. It only tightened around me, I gasped not expecting that. I looked over my shoulder to see a sleeping Ethan Hunt by my side.

"Ethan" I whispered trying to wake him up. He groaned pleasurably. Oh no! This was the most awkward thing I have had to do in my life, well maybe not the most awkward...  
"Ethan, wake up!" I said a little above a whisper. Nothing. Now either I was going to have to stay like this for a couple hours or somehow maybe I could get myself out of this without waking him up. I saw Agent Brandt walk by my our room. I had worked one or two missions with him a couple years before.  
"Brandt!!!" I snapped quietly. He had passed our room, however, stopped and walked backwards after hearing me hiss his name. He looked into the room smirking at my awkward position.  
"Oh hey O'Connell" he greeted me using my last name.  
"Please help me?" I asked making my voice go an octave higher, in order to sound distressed. He shook his head, but didn't move.  
"PLEASE?!" I whispered loudly, getting a little desperate.  
"I don't think so."  
"Willlll!" I groaned annoyed and frustrated.  
"No."  
"You will do this. If you still want to leave this room with your balls intact." I growled, now threatening him.  
"Okay, okay. FINE."   
He grabbed a long pillow that was sitting at the end of the bed and set it in place of me, while I quickly rolled out of Ethan's arms and fell agilely onto the floor. Mission accomplished I smiled to myself, happy to have avoided the awkward situation that could've happened had Ethan woke up next to me.

Ethans POV   
I was really confused when I woke up the next morning, let's just say that I had no idea how I got to the bed I was sleeping in. I looked around the room. Hmm weird, I thought I was on the couch... Guess not. Oh well, best not to dwell on it. I rolled out of the bed took a quick shower and got dressed in a grey shirt and jeans. I had a splitting headache so I walked into the kitchen to see if I could find some Advil. I looked in through the doorframe immediately to see Will and Kensi having a stare down. I walked in looked between them and cautiously walked between their stares not wanting to get involved. All I wanted to do was get to the cabinet to find the Advil. Unfortunately, I also needed the fridge to find something to eat. Finally, I heard one of them shift their weight and I knew that the internal fight between the two was over.  
"Morning." Will greeted me pleasantly, as he sat down at the kitchen table with a coffee mug in hand.  
"Morning Brandt, Kensi." I replied still facing the cabinets.  
"Hi " Kensi muttered out sounding slightly distracted.  
"You okay Kens?" I asked worried about her well being.  
"Yeah just peachy." She replied to me in a sarcastic tone, as she moved out of the kitchen.  
"What did I do?" I asked Brandt. He smiled at me before saying,  
"You didn't do anything Ethan. Don't worry about her."  
"Alright." I said sitting down across from Brandt, raising an eyebrow at him.  
"Oh come on shes just not thrilled about being on our mission. She was on a mission of her own and had to abort, no one would like that." he said.  
"Right." I said not buying his cover, whatever it was I would find out sooner or later. Otherwise I would question Kensi about it, if this continued.


	3. Chapter 3

Kensi's POV  
I had gone back to the room I woke up in this morning and laid down on the bed, trying to relax. I was still mad at Brandt from this morning joking with me about sleeping with Ethan. Ethan was attractive but I would never actually go that far with him... Would I? Oh forget it, I was still thinking over the memories during my training.

"Ok Kens are you ready?" Ethan asked the 16 year old me. I nodded feeling incredibly confident in myself as he swung at me. Ethan had been teaching me hand to hand combat. I blocked his attempt to punch me and twisted his arm backwards, I then maneuvered behind him and kicked him in the back, he fell down to his knees. He groaned in pain and gave, letting me know I had won. I let go of his arm and walked over to get a drink with him behind me.  
"Your doing great!" Ethan said to me patting me on the shoulder and walked back to the mat stretching out his arm.

But before I could delve any further into my mind Ethan, Will, and Benji all entered the room to brief me on the mission.  
"Kensi, your mission, should you choose to accept it." Ethan started.  
"Is to seduce the rich guy and get our codes. It's normally what we need you for." Brandt stated. Ethan elbowed him in the ribs and glared at him. Benji continued to brief me.  
"So we can get past and into the server room." I laughed, I had been laying on my bed with my arms behind my head just basking in the sunlight.  
"Why would you need me for that?" I asked,  
"Security is sure to find you guys sooner or later." I said trying to poke holes in their 'oh so brilliant plan.' I looked up to see all of them staring at me, Ethans gaze softened when I looked up at him silently asking why he had asked me of all the female agents he knew to seduce the rich guy. I mean anybody could do that yet Ethan wanted me. Ethan looked at Brandt and the two shared a knowing glance with each other before turning to me and saying,  
"He's a mentalist." Ethan finally uttered out. I raised my eyebrows at him, slightly interested now.  
"And?" I asked knowing I was going to get on his nerves, however, he did deserve it considering he pulled me away from my own mission which I had to abort to come here.  
"Your the best agent I know who can handle it." I smirked at him.  
"And why do you think that Hunt?" I asked closing my eyes while Brandt walked over to the window looking outside.  
"Because your specifically trained in the art of hypnotism, and all that psychology shit, I need you specifically, for this mission to succeed." Ethan said through gritted teeth.  
"What makes you think I'll do it?" I asked teasing him. I knew he was upset already by admitting that he needed me, but I wanted to push a little more.  
"Because your already here." He said sounding very frustrated. He rubbed his forehead like he had a headache or something. Then he let out a sigh.  
"Ohh.. And where is here exactly?" I let out a small realization moment, not giving anything away. I propped myself up on my elbows to see his face.

"We're in India." Ethan told me, ah so that's why he put me out knowing I hated plane rides.

"Alright fine I'll help you." I said looking up at him to find his eyes already locked on mine glaring at me, obviously he mad. I laughed silently to myself at all their expressions, Brandt and Benji looked impressed and scared all at once. Haha wait til they see what I had in mind for later.


	4. Chapter 4

Ethan and Benji had decided to leave me alone for the day. Good choice, I thought to myself. I'd been in bed all day studying the case files Ethan had given me. I'd finally finished around 8:00pm. My brain was hurting, so I decided to watch The Mummy with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, maybe a movie would help. I used the new laptop Benji gave me to pull up the movie. I was laying on my side, falling asleep as I heard the door creek open. I looked up just in time to see Will slide through the door.  
"Hey" he whispered to me.  
"Hi... What do you need?" I asked him a slight slur in my voice, from how tired I was. I was curious to know why he was in my room, I paused my movie.  
"What makes you assume I need something?" he asked me a little defensive.  
"Well normally when you guys come to me its because you need something from me. Your body stance, you're hunched over shoulders makes me think you're not comfortable, you're outside your comfort zone. You're feeling as a follower rather than a leader, needing comfort. So with that being said, we go back to the original question, What do you need?" I asked using my mentalistic skills to analyze him.  
Brandt sighed and ran a hand through his hair, ruffling his luscious flow. After a while he looked at me with his icy blue eyes, I stared right back at him brown mixing with blue. Then he did the unthinkable. He walked over to me joining me on the bed and pulled me next to him, I was shocked at his abruptness.  
"Can't we just be friends for a minute and watch a movie, like old times." He whispered into my ear his voice sounding husky. I suppressed a shiver.  
"I guess it couldn't hurt." I told him, stealing another look at his face which was closer than I had thought, I blushed, though it was dark and he couldn't see my expression. I felt a chuckle run through his body, as he reached over and pressed play again on the laptop.  
***  
When I woke up the next morning I was not surprised to see Brandt laying there besides me. I tried to make a move to get out of his grasp, but it only tightened around me. I saw Ethan in the hall smiling at me, I gave him the finger but he just started laughing at my attempts. Finally I maneuvered out of Brandt's arms. Quickly walking over to the bathroom to wash up. I got out of the shower and got dressed in a red flowy dress and stuck a knife in my clutch before leaving the room I walked out to see Benji and Ethan were sitting at the small table chatting. Ethan was the first to see me walk in, he got up and walked over to me giving me a kiss on the cheek.  
"You look good today." He said. I blushed as Benji turned around to see for himself his jaw dropping a millimeter, though it was still visible. I smiled.  
"So what are we doing today?" I asked Ethan.  
"Well, we were going to be getting supplies." He said, though it sounded like there was more to it that he didn't want to tell me just yet.  
"Sounds good." I replied. I heard a whistle from behind me and spun around to see Brandt standing there leaning against the door frame, smiling like a drunk. He walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek.  
"Somebody looks good today." he whispered to me, I smiled a bit and looked at the floor.  
"So we need to go shopping for you Kens." Ethan stated, smirking at me. I groaned I knew he was hiding something before.  
"Finnnee." The boys laughed knowing I didn't like shopping very much.  
"You'll be fine. Ethan will fix you up well." Benji said to me winking then going back to playing with his computer.  
"Thanks Benji" I said. Ethan qucikly grab his sunglasses, jacket and keys and pulled me out the door.  
***  
First stop was a dress shop, where Ethan immediately went on auto pilot. He stored my feelings and immediately grabbed a couple evening gowns, though it was kind of nice along with a couple others. I went into the dressing room to try them on without complaining, though I really really wanted to.  
"So how's it coming?" Ethan asked after about 10 minutes of me staring at myself in the mirror. I was uncomfortable, but I had to suck it up and show him, for approval.  
"Difficult to say." I replied to him resting my elbow against the door and running a hand through my wavy hair.  
"Can I see it?" He asked quietly knowing I was probably uncomfortable.  
"Uhm." was my intelligent reply.  
"Or I could come in." He debated. I undid the lock and immediately his hand pushed on the door only giving himself enough space to slide through and into the small dressing room. I felt his eyes on me, raking down my body, I watched him. I saw want, desire and lust flash through his eyes all at once.  
"So..." I managed to say.  
"Hot." Ethan muttered as his eyes met mine, I immediately dropped his gaze and looked at the ground. He took a step closer to me. Instantly I noticed the decreasing distance between us. Suddenly, it wasn't there and my back was pushed up against the wall and Ethan's body was against mine.  
"You couldn't look bad in anything Kens, you know that?" he mumbled to me, looking into my eyes. I could feel his warm breath on my neck. I didn't reply I was a little too stunned.  
"Even a blind man could see that your beautiful." he whispered to me.  
"Think I'm out of practice Ethan?" I asked deciding to have a little fun. I seductively fluttered my eyes slowly. Ethan's face was only millimeters from my own, he kept looking at my lips and I knew I had him under my spell.  
"Not at all Kens." He whispered, leaning forwards to kiss me, his lips just barely brushed mine when we heard a knock at the door. He didn't move being the trained spy he was, he had been expecting it.  
"Is everything alright in there? You don't need a different size or anything?" The store clerk asked. Before I could answer Ethan spoke up.  
"No everything's perfect. Thanks." Ethan answered for me. He stared into my eyes, I couldn't tell what he was thinking. My mind itself was blank. I saw a flash of not regret but more like want and sadness in his eyes. He was about to leave when I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back kissing him quickly on the lips. I felt him smile into the kiss, he lengthened it more than I had been expecting. After the need for oxygen caused us to break apart he unlocked the door and quickly pulled me out without letting me change. This was the dress apparently. He held my hand, my purse and dress I came in with as he dragged me to the register and bought the black dress.  
"Your gonna do great tonight." Ethan smiled, knowing nothing had changed between us. Though sometimes as specialized operatives it can be hard to tell. I was having mixed feelings for sure.


	5. Chapter 5

*Brandt's POV*

Eventually both Ethan and Kensi came back, both Benji and I were in the middle of talking about the weird magnetic suit I think it was. The plan was for me to jump into this huge fan thing where he would use his rover thing to move me to the moniter room. I was freaked out to say the least. I questioned Benji about the suit and everything, he said not to worry. So I tried to brush off the feeling. I just didn't like not knowing if things would go our way. I sighed and decided to get a nap before our big plan tonight.  
***  
I woke up to someone thumping me on the head with a magazine...  
"What the hell?" I mumbled, Ethan laughed and told me to get changed and that we were leaving in 20 minutes. Ethan being Ethan was already done getting ready. Benji was probably mostly done getting ready. Yet no Kensi to be seen... I quickly made my way upstairs to my room to get changed into my suit. I was on my way back downstairs when I heard mumbling and cursing from Kensi's room. I walked into her room, however, she wasn't there. So, I knocked on her bathroom door figuring she was in there.  
"Yes?" She asked.  
"Time to go O'Connell." I informed her. The bathroom door opened to reveal a very beautiful looking Kensi with maroon lipstick and a sexy hair updo with diamond earrings and the dress that Ethan had picked for her to wear to seduce this other mentalist. All I could say was WOW.


	6. Chapter 6

Ethan escorted Kensi to the door, where the party was being held. We all had our ear pieces in ready to jump into action, I followed, not behind them but enough that I wouldn't be noticed. Eventually I did make it into the party, I walked in and looked around finally spotting Kensi and Ethan. I was wearing the suit Benji gave me underneath my tux. I walked around a pillar hearing Ethan in my ear,  
"Comm. Check"   
"Saturns got your 5x5 Jupiter." I said walking around both Kensi and Ethan.   
"This is Pluto, I have arrived at the party." I heard Benji say.   
"There he is." I heard Kensi say.  
"Venus moving in on target." Ethan informed me.  
"Hooks in, you do make an impression." I almost choked on my drink, but quickly made my move and walked down further to where the place I would be jumping into would be.  
"Why am I Pluto it's not even a planet anymore." I heard Benji say.  
"I think Uranus is available." I told him, trying to ease the tension I felt building in me.  
"Haha it's funny cause you said anus." Benji laughed fakely, I pushed open the door to the next door which opened to the other where the fan was located. I took off my jacket and placed it on some nearby crates, then went back to the door twisted the lock on it and pushed the door up.  
"I'm in position." I told Benji.  
"Sending in the robot." I heard him say.   
"He's moving in on you, turn your back to him, don't want to make it too easy for him." Ethan told Kensi.  
"Are you going to be talking the whole time?" I heard Kensi hiss to him, I heard the mentalist guy say some stuff to the bartender and ask Kensi something.  
"I'm more of a vodka girl." I heard her say. I had to smirk at that, we all knew she was.  
"My names Patrick Jane, welcome to my summer home." I laughed at his Californian accent, he definitely was not foreign.  
"Rover's in position. Spinning down the turbine" Benji said. My heartbeat quickened at the sound of that, it was almost time to go.  
"He's emailing. Venus, be Venus." I heard Ethan mumble.  
"Husband? Boyfriend?" Jane asked.  
"More of a coworker." I heard Kensi answer.  
"Saturn take the leap." Ethan said, I readied myself, doing deep breathing and stretching to calm the nerves, though it didn't work.  
"Ok... Jump big, jump big now..." I told myself, then I stuck my head back through the door looking at the 20 foot drop down to the fan.  
"Jump Now??" I asked unsure of myself.  
"Yes. Commit, Jump." Ethan replied.  
"Jump?" I asked again, becoming even more unsure of what I was doing.  
"Jump." Ethan said.  
"and I catch you." Benji added in.  
"NOW." Ethan said assertively. I sat down on the ledge, getting ready again.  
"So you're sure about this suit right Benji?"   
"Pretty sure." Benji replied. I laughed sarcastically.  
"Pretty sure." I repeated him.  
"Jump." Ethan added.  
"Oh god." I whispered to myself freaking out mentally.   
"Jump." Ethan repeated again. I took a deep breath.  
"JUMP!" Ethan all but yelled, and I pushed myself off the ledge, I heard Jane yelp and Kensi's breathing quicken.  
"Jupiter, he's gone." She said sounding defeated.   
"Did you jump?" Ethan asked.   
"Should I not have jumped?" I asked him sarcastically. "Cause I JUMPED!" I added.  
"Stand by." I heard Ethan sigh relieved.  
"I'm playing a hunch, don't hit me." I heard him whisper to Kensi. I heard her cute laugh and then knew what they were up to, he kissed her. I tried not to be jealous, but I couldn't help it I had developed a crush a while ago and I now had a soft spot in my heart for her.  
"Hello?" I heard Kensi ask, I suppose she was on the phone.  
"I was wrong about you, what do you say I show you my art collection?" Jane said through the phone to her. I made a gagging sound.  
"I was waiting for you to ask." She said.  
"Then you'll have to find me." Jane replied.  
"You're on" Kensi said, accepting his challenge.  
"I'm heading upstairs" Ethan said.  
"Alright now be careful it's probably getting a bit hot." Benji said as he maneuvered me through the monitor panel.  
"Look left, Look up. I find your relationship intriguing." Jane said to Kensi, my blood was boiling at this point. Anger flowing through my veins.  
"You know he's not your type. Completely not your type. He's cold I would expect you to go for something oh I don't know, smart, caring, impressive.."  
I heard Ethan sigh loudly containing his annoyance with the man she was pursuing.  
"8 o'clock he's at your 8 o'clock." Ethan said. Just then Benji ran me into the hot monitor,  
"OWW!" I yelled. Benji tried to help and failed again, ran me into another monitor. "OWW!!! Too much too much too much!" I said and sighed when he stopped it from moving.  
"I see you. I heard you have one of the best private collections in the world." I heard Kensi say her voice getting seductive, I involuntarily shivered.  
"Well at the very least its private however, I do pride myself in knowing the unknown." I heard Jane say. I sighed and took off the panel of the monitor and saw these red things sticking out. I took out one red one and replaced it with one of our own.  
"Saturn how are we doing in the relay room?" Ethan asked.  
"We are in position. Need those codes guys." I told him.   
"All originals." I heard the smart ass say then I heard a squeal of pain and then a slap. I was sweating waiting.. The nerves came back as the fan turned back on.  
"What the hell is that?" I asked Benji  
"What the hell is that?" Benji asked repeating me.  
"the hell is what?" Ethan asked.  
"It's going haywire!" I yelled.  
"It's downloaded a virus from the satellite, Hendricks is going to have live capability in 5 minutes." Benji warned.  
"Something wrong?" Jane asked.  
"No." Kensi replied.  
"Kensi we gotta move, we need that code." Ethan said hurriedly.  
"Finally we are alone." Kensi said to Jane.  
"Venus now is the time, you kick his ass." Ethan told her.  
"We are alone aren't we?" She asked Jane. I heard struggling and then Kensi's voice.  
"Move and I break your neck. The codes? Say it now or you never speak again."  
"46, 82, 93" Jane breathed out. The power shut down and I was in the dark.  
"Benji what happened?"   
"My systems crashed, we are too late."   
"No, he's revealed himself, Benji can you pinpoint his location?"  
"Good work Brandt now get the hell out of there."   
"Back me up" I yelled to Benji.   
"It's not responding." He said to me.   
"Must I do everything myself?" I asked to nobody in particular, pushed myself back up to the running fan and up the shaft to my exit.  
"Brandt?? Brandt??" I heard Kensi ask worried.  
"Next time I get to seduce the rich guy." I told her


	7. Chapter 7

All of a sudden I heard gunshots, and people screaming. what the hell was going on up there? I quickly ran back through the kitchen and up through some stairs. I saw Ethan looking around trying to find the art gallery.  
"Kensi!!! Get out of there someone knows we are here. I'll meet you at the car" Ethan said through his mic, then ran off in a different exit route. I ran outside. As this was going on Benji quickly unhooked his computer from the main port and stuffed it away into his backpack following the tunnel out to the car. I ran quickly darting around the cars that were trying to get away from danger. All of a sudden I looked up and saw a balcony where Kensi was standing trying to find a way down, looking around frantically for something to jump onto.   
"Kensi, look down and to the right." I told her my position. She looked directly at me and smiled.  
"Brandt, I need you now. Please don't drop me." I heard her speak. She quickly jumped over the rail I stayed put. I felt the impact of her fall, in my knees. I felt her arms around my neck,  
"Thank you." She all but whispered.  
"No problem, now let's find Benji and Ethan shall we?" I asked setting her down on her feet. We ran for an abandoned alley.  
"Ethan, Benji I need your positions." She told them. In return we got no answer, immediately a black van pulled up and the window rolled down, I saw the gun and was not quick enough to say something or block them from hitting Kensi.  
"SHIT! Kens get down!!" I yelled to her. But it was too late the van rushed off and I ran over to Kensi who had fallen, as the van sped off.  
"Kensi!? No, no, no. This can't be happening." I dropped to my knees beside her, looking to see where she had been hit. I heard Ethan through my mic but ignored him.  
"Brandt?! What the hell just happened?? What's wrong?? Benji track their location." Ethan ordered. I quickly took off my jacket and applied pressure to her shoulder to try and stop her from losing too much blood. She yelped in pain, I looked down at her as she was staring up at me, her eyes filled with worry and pain.  
"Kens I know it hurts. Just try not to think about it." I said sounding like a total idiot I'm sure.  
"Will?..." She whispered her breathing hastened and her beautiful brown eyes were fluttering.  
"Yes?" I asked her.  
"I always liked you." She whispered. I clamped my mouth shut, I didn't know what I would do without her, maybe it was just a fling but I did have feelings for the girl laying in my arms.


	8. Chapter 8

*Kensi's POV*

Later...  
I woke up dazed and confused, I was in a car driving very fast. I looked around and immediately met the eyes of my team. Benji, Brandt, and Ethan were all there shouting about something. I sat up straighter letting them know I was awake. I looked down at myself and saw my shoulder was wrapped in gauze and the dress I was wearing was off and I was redressed in a t shirt and pants. the events of last night then flooded into my head. I cringed at the sudden pain I was having,  
"Don't move Kens it's only going to hurt more if you do." Ethan informed me as he readied a shot.  
"Where am I?" I asked.  
"Outside of Mumbai." Ethan answered his eyes locked on the road.   
"Where?" I asked again.

"We're after that nuclear missile that got launched while we were in the party." Benji answered this time though my earpiece. 

"This is adrenaline it will give you one hell of a kick." Ethan replied. Before I could understand what was happening I felt the shot go into my neck and a burst of energy with it. 

"Shit Ethan!!!" I yelled as I felt it flow through me. The car stopped and we both rushed to get out of it. As Ethan ran after the guy who was running towards a parking garage.

"Get Wistrom!! Go, Go!!!" He yelled at me as he was running away. I ran into the building grabbing my gun from my side, quickly I realized he had seen me and started shooting bullets at me. One of them shattering the glass in front of me. I returned fire then somersaulted so he would have a worse shot at me dodging behind some desks. I took a knee shooting as he was hiding behind some monitors. I ran up to them as he took a breather hiding myself with the monitors and popped out when I felt the time was right. I saw the gun on the ground and realized he was gone. I grimaced feeling my side and seeing more blood. Fuck, shot again. I felt a presence behind me and immediately crouched pointing my gun at them. I saw Benji and Brandt and relaxed. 

"Wistrom destroyed the relay. Ethan went after Hendricks and the case but..." I told them. 

"It doesn't matter if he has the case, because we can't transmit the abort codes." Benji tried to figure out what else to do.

"Can you fix it??" Brandt asked. Just as he said that the power went out.

"Ah yeah, but it's gonna be pointless if we don't have any power." Benji replied.

"Wistrom." I said as I turned on the light connected to my gun turning around and walking towards the noise. 

"Kensi??" He asked me.

"I'm okay, Ethan gave me a shot of adrenaline." I told him looking into his eyes telling him not to worry. 

"Alright. Stay here and cover Benji. Benji get this thing rewired and back online. I'll get the power back on. You can do this." Brandt said as he walked off to go deal with Wistrom.

Benji frantically worked with the wires. Flashlight in his mouth working hard. I sat down against everything. 

"He's been gone too long, damnit!! Listen when the power comes back on these two drives go into this bay. Okay?" He showed me where they go and I nodded to him and he ran off to find Brandt.

"ON!!" I heard Brandt yell and immediately the lights came on. I slammed the drives into the bay. After I managed that I ran to Benji and Brandt. 

"You guys good??" I asked as I noticed Wistrom dead on the floor. They nodded. I smiled a little before I felt the adrenaline wearing off. 

"Kensi??!" I heard someone yell as I collapsed to the floor. 

"Shit Benji she's hit, not once but twice." I heard Brandt say.

"She's lost a lot of blood we need to get her to the hospital immediately." I heard as everything started to blur and then blackness.


	9. Chapter 9

Kensi POV

It was the middle of the night but I was awake in an unfamiliar place. Looking around at the blank walls and thinking about that mission, the shots, the pain. I saw Brandt asleep in a chair near the bed I was in. I looked over at the clock, 4:30am. I sighed just laying there for a little bit. Eventually I got up from my bed trying to be quiet about it barely succeeding, still in a bit of pain but I gritted my teeth through it. A couple gunshot wounds wouldn't impair me in normal duties. I walked into the bathroom and pulled off my shirt looking down at the wrapping where a nurse had wrapped an ACE bandage around some gauze that hid my injury from view. I slowly grazed my fingers over it, expecting more pain than I experienced. Slowly, I unraveled the bandage looking at the newly laid gauze that stuck to the wound, small blood stains covered the surface. It was getting better... Slowly, but surely. I wondered quickly what day it was. I looked at the gauze. Disgusted at what they did to me, whoever 'they' was I would find them. I could feel the anger boiling up inside me. I sighed closing my eyes and slowly opening them to look at myself in the mirror at that moment I promised myself I would get through this. I felt useless, now I was probably going to be out of the field for a while doing rehab and pushing papers. However, during that time I would be hunting for them and at the opportune moment I would kill them. I slowly heard movement behind me. Brandt had gotten out of the chair and stumbled towards me, still tired.

"Hey you shouldn't be up and walking. How're you doing?" He asked me.

"Good, doing better. What day is it??" I asked him.

"It's been a couple days after the failed missile launch. Thursday, I think." He said looking at his watch. I nodded not concerned.

"Good. How's everyone?" I asked him. Seeing Benji and Ethan were no where to be seen.

"Ethan's in the hospital. He drove a car off the parking garage complex he's got a couple broken bones. You both should be good in a couple weeks." He told me. I nodded not surprised at Ethan's injuries.

"Sounds good. I need to get out of here." I told him as I walked towards the door of the room.

"Kens, Kens... I need you to stay here with me, I can't lose you again." Brandt said his eyes showed sincerity. As he gripped my shoulders lightly.

"Okay, okay I'll give it a couple days." I told him a tear slipping from my eyes.

"No don't cry baby. It's okay, it's gonna be fine." He told me as his expression clearly changed into one of concern and worry.

"I need to find them Brandt. I know Wistrom was the second shooter. But who was the first?" I asked him as more tears started to slip.

"I know honey. And we will find them, okay? I promise just lay down and we'll see about getting you discharged in a couple hours." He told me readjusting his grip to my face. I looked down and he tilted my chin back up to look him in the eyes.

"Kensi..." He started to speak and I knew what he was going to say but I couldn't hear it right now. I leaned into his grip. He leaned his forehead against mine and our lips met. He got me back into bed and I slowly fell back asleep as he held my hand.


	10. Chapter 10

Ethan and Benji came into my room later that day. I had been rewrapped in new bandages and the nurses had told me they were going to let me go.

"So what're you gonna do now?" Ethan asked me, as I wandered around the room pulling on clothes.

"Not exactly sure, maybe travel the world" I lied smoothly. He smiled up at me, knowing that I've always wanted to do that.

"Where to?"

"Iceland, maybe?" He chuckled lightly.

"Well you're relieved from your duties here" he looked at me seriously.

"Thanks Ethan" I smiled and pulled him into a hug once I had finished getting dressed. I walked over to talk to Benji.

"It's been a pleasure." I said to him and shook his hand.

"Same to you" he replied.

"Brandt should be here soon, we're all going to the pier if you want to come with before you head off." Ethan told me. I nodded. Brandt finally showed up 10 minutes later with my car. I walked outside to greet him, both Ethan and Benji trailing behind me. Once he saw me he handed me the keys and engulfed me in a huge hug lifting me off the ground a little, being careful not to hurt me further.

"Gonna miss you O'Connell." He whispered in my ear after setting me down.

"We're all going to the pier before I head off." I told him before he could say anything else. 

"Alright. Meet you all at the pier?" I said back to Benji and Ethan. They nodded and got into a separate car. 

***

We walked up seeing Benji, Ethan and Luther all together sitting at a table. 

"This must be them. Ethan I didn't think you actually recruited Kensi but here she stands." Luther said getting up and hugging me lightly.

"Luther Stickle, the firm of O'Connell, Dunn and Brandt." Ethan introduced us.

"I blew an entire weekend on the bottom of the San Francisco Bay. All thanks to you clowns." Luther said to us rolling his eyes and winking at me as he finished his beer and got up to pay.

"Oh man you know I got this." Ethan stepped in.

"I know, I'll see you in Candahaur." Luther told him and walked off.

"Thanks for meeting me." He said to Brandt and I as we sat down.

"So I hear the insurance company is refusing to pay for that car you crashed Ethan. Something about 100 meter vertical drops not being covered." Benji started the conversation.

"Go figure." Ethan laughed with the rest of us.

"How's the leg?" I asked him smiling.

"It's still working. You?" He threw the question back at me.

"Healing." I told him.

"I'm fine by the way I mean I'm not actually sleeping per say. You know, cold sweats middle of the night. All these people are just happy and smiling and they are completely oblivious to the fact that they were almost vaporized. And if it hadn't been for..." Benji bumped in.

"Dumb luck? Was it? I mean look we were unprepared, in the dark. Disavowed. And the only thing that functioned properly on that mission was this team. I don't know how we ended up together. Except for you Kensi. But I'm glad we did." Ethan interrupted him as he set out 3 phones on the table.

"Your missions. Choose to accept them." Ethan started.

"Eh, I'm in. Seriously, I mean it's not like any mission is going to be rougher than the last one, is it?" Benji started laughing.

"Is it??" He asked us more serious. We all started laughing immediately as he freaked out. Benji picked up his phone and shook Ethans hand thanking him. I picked up mine smiling.

"Agent Hunt. You know where I'll be if you need me." I smiled at Ethan and kissed Brandt on the cheek, they all knew where I was going to me. Brandt smiled and his fingers trailed down my arm asking me not to go so fast. But I needed to, I needed to leave. 

"I'll see you guys soon." I smiled as I got up and left going towards the car I had come in and left driving to the airport.


	11. Chapter 11

*A couple weeks later*

I sifted through all the camera feed that I'd hacked from the alley in India. I was unsure what my next step was, I hadn't put any names to the faces on the feed, it's been weeks, I was growing impatient. I sighed finally deciding to use my IMF resources, they'd find out my location eventually anyways. I logged onto my computer and used their fancy computer recognition software to see if I got any hits. I didn't, what was the use of the system if I couldn't get a single hit on the man or the woman I saw. Their faces were burned into my memory, I closed my computer and sighed rubbing my eyes with my hands and leaning back in my chair. I'd been researching for a really long time already maybe I should take out my energy with yoga or something. Stretching might do me some good.

**Later that day**

Iceland was beautiful. I stretched near my giant window so I could see the incredible sunset. I had been getting into drawing lately since I had not much else to do. I had been getting slightly better than just being able to draw stick figures. So I decided to try and come up with a better less fuzzy face for the man and women who shot me. I took the photo from the video footage and tried to draw the faces I saw in better perspective. I looked down at my drawings surprised with myself. I saw a man with glasses and blonde hair, he seemed clean cut and his cold blue eyes were hostile. The woman was a bit different she had brown hair and greenish blue eyes, she was stunning. I was surprised how familiar she looked however I couldn't place where I'd seen her before. I took it and scanned both drawings into my computer and ran facial recognition again, however, I wasn't going to get my hopes up. He probably wasn't in the system anyways. But her, she might be... I kept the computer on hopefully coming up with a hit soon. Finally a ding came from the device. Ilsa Faust.


	12. ROGUE NATION

I landed in Britain a couple hours ago. I was ready to find out who this 'Ilsa Faust' was. The computer said MI6 so that's what I was going with. I needed to speak to Attlee immediately. I knew he was her handler previously before her status had become unknown. I walked into the beautiful marble building and went through the retinal scanners for the elevators. I was in. The elevator dinged indicating my stop. I got out of the moving death box and strode towards the desk where a woman sat.

"Hi, I need to speak to Attlee." I stated and waited for her reply.

"Alright I'll give him a buzz, however he may not be in his office. What's your business here?" she asked me.

"I work for the IMF I have a couple questions for him regarding one of his MI6 agents." I answered. She picked up her phone and dialed a number quickly, said a few things on the phone and hung up.

"Go on back" She told me. I nodded.

My heels clicked on the floor as I walked back to the office. I built up my confidence and decided what I wanted to say to Attlee. I pushed open the door to the office where he sat at his desk.

"Hello Kensi, to what do I owe the pleasure??" He smiled at me smugly. What you didn't know was that MI6 once had the balls to recruit me from America. They wanted me bad too, however, obviously I ended up with the IMF. I decided on telling the truth.

"I recently ran across someone from your department. They shot me and I'm here to find out more information about said person." I told him.

"How interesting. Please do tell me who this person was..." He asked his hands ready to start typing on his computer if he needed to look up one of his agents.  
"Ilsa Faust" I said. His entire being froze for a minute.  
"Ilsa Faust went rogue a couple months ago." He said looking at me confused. Great so in reality he didn't know anything. However, he was a trained liar and I was a trained 'mind reader' as my friends liked to call it. I knew he was lying but only somewhat.  
"So tell me Attlee, what aren't you telling me. Keep in mind I am willing to hurt you to get answers." I said walking towards him pulling my small knife out from my waist band. He sighed knowing all about me and my background and it looked like he was going to give in. He pushed a button on his desk to make the room go secure.  
"Alright. I'll tell you."


	13. Chapter 13

Brandt POV  
It's been a couple months since we finished our original mission with the fancy mentalist and Kensi. It's been a long couple months without her. I admitted my feelings and she just left. I didn't understand. I knew she wanted to heal but I didn't think she'd upright and leave. I couldn't be around her when she left, that's why I volunteered to go get the car she drove to the airport. I knew it wasn't goodbye, but it very well could be at the same time. It was hard to tell with her. It still kind of hurt, but I had to let go.  
Today, I was standing before a group of Senators who were deciding the fate of the IMF. Hunley director of the CIA was building his case up against us using our latest mission of disarming the Russian Nuclear warhead against us. He wanted to disband the IMF. His reasons? "Too Reckless", bullshit, I know. However, the only answer I could ever give would be:  
"I can neither confirm nor deny any details about any operation without the Secretaries approval."  
I knew this wouldn't do us much good but it was the only thing I was permitted to say, although I could kind of defend us within limits. As Hunley was closing his argument against us, I knew we would be disbanded, that was something we would all have to deal with. I felt a slight pain in my chest as we were dismissed. It was over. I knew it would be, the IMF was now apart of the CIA. This sucked. My phone rang as I got into the elevator alone.   
"Go secure" the voice said.   
I knew all too well that voice was the one and only Ethan Hunt, the man of the hour. Hunley really wanted to catch him. I did as Ethan asked.  
"Go" I told him letting him know I had gone secure.  
"London is compromised" he repeated that to me twice. He went on to say he wanted immediate extraction.  
"What happened??" I asked slightly worried.   
"There was this man, he could've killed me, but he didn't. The syndicate is real. They know who we are and how we operate." He said to me. He was saying a lot of things he wanted rather fast. I sighed knowing I couldn't do anything that he wanted.  
"I can't do that."   
"What??"  
"The committee has just shut us down. Operations have been handed over to the CIA. There is no more IMF and I've been ordered to bring everyone in. Ethan..." I went on to apologize but he cut me off.  
"I understand. We never had this conversation. I disappeared in London. You don't know where I am. Dead or Alive."   
"This man you mentioned? Can you find him?" I asked.  
"I won't stop until I do." He replied.  
"This may very well be our last mission, Ethan. Make it count." I told him as I hung up.  
I walked out of the elevator, seeing Hunley there waiting for me.   
"Where is Hunt?" He asked.  
"I don't know, I have no way of contacting him." I told him lying smoothly. I didn't listen to the next couple words of his babble, I was thinking about Kensi and what she was doing at this moment. Maybe she'd found something regarding her shooter, but then again who knows? I hadn't received any word from her about anything. All I could do was hope she and Ethan were going to be okay.


	14. Chapter 14

Benji POV  
I was sitting at my new desk at the CIA... I hated it, all I did was play video games and pretend to work on the very high resolution monitors they gave me. It's been about 6 months since the IMF has been disbanded, I hadn't heard from Ethan or Kensi. We haven't forgotten about them though. I mean Hunley doesn't even know Kensi, so I guess she doesn't count. I knew somehow they would find each other, Ethan and Kensi. It's likely Kensi didn't know about what had happened with the CIA & IMF. I know Ethan did just because of Brandt but Kensi must've had no idea... We all missed her and it was taking a huge toll on Brandt but he dealt with it pretty well.  
Meanwhile, I played Halo 5 at HQ of the CIA. And I was subjected to weekly polygraph tests because Hunley thought I knew something about the whereabouts of Ethan and probably because I was the "weak" link in the group because they thought I couldn't lie. Little did they know, I knew certain little things about Ethan and how to pass the mundane tests of the CIA. Brandt was not helping Hunley very much, but a little in case he would suspect anything his loyalties lay with us not them. Brandt was just doing his job, being an analyst again. However, you could tell he missed being out in the field. The mail was plopped on my desk, I looked at it and decided to open it. I had won free tickets to the Vienna opera!! My phone started ringing.  
"Dunn." I answered, knowing it was time for my polygraph, joy.

Nothing eventful happened, just more questions about Ethan. I knew he was on the move with the information they threw at me. However, they lost him in Cuba. After I finished I sat back down at my desk. Fuck it, the CIA could get along fine without me. I immediately shut down my monitors and grabbed my coat and left the building headed home to pack for my new adventure.

I landed in Vienna, getting off the subway. When I did, I noticed this odd guy wearing this conspicuous black hoodie. He shoved a folder into my arms, I spun around a little confused but I had lost him. I opened the manila envelope, and saw some glasses and a program. I put the glasses on. Immediately I heard Ethans voice.  
"Ethan!!! Where are you? Where have you been?" I asked spitting questions at him. I changed my mind.  
"Actually I don't wanna know, it'll just be another thing I have to lie about in my weekly polygraph."  
"Ugh, I didn't win those opera tickets did I?" I asked.  
"No. I'm afraid not" he answered as I kept walking towards where he wanted me to go.  
Ethan had sent me a picture of a man with fair hair and glasses.   
"Who is he?" I asked.  
"Thats what we're here to find out."


	15. Chapter 15

Kensi POV  
I was on a mission to take out Ilsa Faust. But in order to do that I needed to pretend to go rogue, join the syndicate, gain their trust, find Ilsa and kill her. Or... I could just find Ilsa and kill her then go after the man too. It seemed like a pretty solid plan, plus I was really good at my job. I'd just go with the flow. I knew their next play was to kill the Chancellor of Austria, I knew Ilsas position and how she was going to go about her plan. I quietly but quickly walked up the stairs to my perch. I spied Ethan out of the corner of my eye but I don't think he noticed me. What the hell was he doing here?? I thought, as I saw Benji too. What the hell?! This was my fight!! Ok, think logically, maybe Ethan caught onto the syndicate. Maybe this was his predetermined mission. Yeah that was probably it. He was smart enough to know what to do. The opera was beginning, I started moving a little quicker towards my place. I was up high, I liked it up there, easy to see all my targets and of course the Chancellor of Austria. I was trying to keep an eye on too many people, I got a little distracted and choose to watch Ethan for a good amount of my time. I had completely lost Benji he was probably in a closet running facial recognition on us all. God I missed them all so much. I noticed Ethan was watching a man but at the same time was also watching Ilsa as she climbed up to her spot. Unfortunately I couldn't kill her just yet. I pulled out one of the rifles that was stashed for the syndicate, I followed Ethan with my sights set on the man he was following, the gun being already loaded. I saw he was in trouble when the man he was following noticed his presence, he was a good height, a bit taller than Ethan, stronger too. It turned into a fist fight. I waited for a little while and took the shot. He dropped. Ethan looked around confused but decided to set his sights back on Ilsa. On another account I saw the guard I walked by on the way in, he was part of the plot to assassinate the Chancellor too. God they really don't trust their people to get the job done. I changed my view to watch Ethan who had also noticed. He grabbed the gun the man had dropped when I shot him. He didn't know where to aim at, but neither did I. Two people were trying to kill the Chancellor. I watched him to make sure who I knew to shoot. Ethan chose to take a shot at the Chancellor, making sure it was only a flesh wound. I sighed but kept my sight on the guard who was in the lighting booth. Benji had rushed in and started a fist fight with the guard. I quickly choose to aim, however before I could pull the trigger he dropped.. I looked back over to Ilsa, she was gone. I quickly discarded my weapon and started off to get out as fast as possible knowing that they would be sealing off the exits because the Chancellor had been shot. I ran out with the crowd, somehow slipping by the guards. I quickly called Benji.   
"Hello???????" He answered sounding annoyed and confused about why someone would be calling him at this particular moment.  
"Benji, it's Kensi. I know the Chancellor of Austria was just shot, save your questions and just give me your location." I stated.  
"Parking garage 3rd level." He said sounding out of breath.  
"I'll be there in 15."   
"Minutes?"  
"Seconds." I said and laughed a little out of breath myself. I quickly pulled open the passenger door looked at the astounded look on Benjis face and laughed a little. Then we drove off to find Ethan and Ilsa walking casually. The Chancellors car just exploded as we were driving up.  
"HOLY SHIT" I cursed.  
"Get in." Benji said as we drove up. Neither Ethan or Ilsa complained just hopped in and we drove off.   
"Kensi?!?!!" Ethan sounded super surprised. I waved a little.  
"YOU!!" Ilsa exclaimed.  
"Yes, hello to you too Ilsa." I said my voice clipped.  
"You have to get going." I told her, she nodded. Ethan and Benji disagreed.  
"NO"   
"Ethan, Benji I know you need to know whats going on. But she has to leave so they don't suspect anything."  
"I need some answers first." Ethan said. I sighed a little.  
"Ilsa Faust." Ilsa introduced herself.  
"British Intelligence?" Ethan asked but also told.  
"Yes, I was here to kill the Chancellor, but I was just going through the motions. Saving you in London put me in a tight spot." They knew each other? I was lost.  
"Those other two idiots who were there were to make sure you got the job done." I added in.  
"You took them out?" She asked me. I didn't say anything.  
"One man was there to kill the chancellor, the other to kill you... A test." Ethan stated, talking to Ilsa,.  
"Second one I've failed, thanks to you." She shot back at him.  
"The car bomb was insurance." He said putting the pieces together.  
"Hey, they don't know me yet." I said, although I had known them really really well, I did my research.  
"What're you suggesting?" She asked me.  
"A new face, a new potential agent." I offered up.  
"Might not be a terrible idea, I should take you with me." She said.  
"My original idea was just to kill you, but I wasn't expecting Ethan or Benji to show up." I glared at them all. She laughed a little.  
"We have a tail" Benji said out of nowhere.  
"Ok, if you want to take down the syndicate you have to let me and ... I'm sorry, I don't know your name." She offered me to fill in the blank  
"Kensi." I said.  
"You're going to have to let me and Kensi go. We're after the same thing though, and maybe I can convince you not to kill me." She directed that last part at me.  
"This has to look like an escape so you just throw us out anywhere." She said. Ethan pulled out his phone with the picture of the man who shot me on it. I was still so confused.  
"Tell me who he is."  
"Ethan now is not the best time for this but he's on my hit list too." I spoke up. There were gunshots all around the car.  
"CHANGE OF PLANS THROW THEM OUT!!!" Benji yelled. Ethan opened the door and threw us both out into the night.


	16. Chapter 16

Kensi POV  
We rolled out of the car together. The pavement hurt but I got up quickly as I saw there was a car about to hit us, a ton of people hopped out. I just stood there and let Ilsa take the lead. The men immediately were on us. My arms were behind my back, I just let it happen I knew it would all be explained as Ilsa talked to her superior. We got into the car with the men and sped off. Luckily they decided not to blindfold me so I knew where I was and where I was going. We were in some sort of hotel somewhere. The men pushed us inside the room 87. Right there I recognized the man in the chair, he was the one who shot me. It took all I had in me not to charge and kill him right there. I kept my composure. Someone touched my shoulder and I took them out immediately lashing out, punching them in the stomach making them bend over in pain. I grabbed their arm and bent it back almost breaking it. Ilsa watched me with curious eyes, I knew she fought more discreetly, after all I had watched her for a while. The man in the chair looked at me too, obviously surprised at my presence and technique. I let go of the guy's arm and raised my arms in surrender. Ilsa started talking.  
"Thought we had an agreement, you send me to do a job and I do it, but my way, not yours."  
"Where did I deviate?" Lane asked.  
"You put 2 more gunmen there tonight, one of them tried to kill me"  
"You missed."  
"I missed because Ethan Hunt was there looking for you."  
"Ethan Hunt was in Vienna because you allowed him to escape in London."  
"Then I would've killed him in London and that's not what you asked for."  
"Twice now you've let him slip away... Curious."  
"Are you questioning my loyalty or my ability?"  
"Can't decide"  
"I've told you before, trust me or kill me. But if you're going to kill me be a man." She threw a gun across the table to him.   
"Do it yourself" She made her point. He picked up the gun and pointed it at me my breathing wanted to change but I forced myself to stay calm and not to defend.  
"Who is your friend Ilsa?"  
"Kensi."   
"And what can she offer me?" he said looking at me the entire time, judging whether to kill me or not.  
"She's a disavowed IMF agent." he smiled, he knew who I was, I had a flashback to when I was shot. His voice snapped me out of it.  
"Wonderful." He moved the gun to her and shot. She flinched, he had shot the man who's arm I had almost broken. He got up and moved over to Ilsas side.  
"Did he say anything?"  
"He knows about Morocco."  
"What does he know about Morocco?"  
"He knows about the profile, he doesn't know whats in it."  
"Find him please." he looked at me and smiled.  
"He will find me, I've made sure of that." Ilsa said.  
"Perfect." He said and walked out. Leaving us to decide what to do next.


	17. Chapter 17

Kensi POV

I was helping Ilsa hold her breath by timing her as she went underwater in the pool.. We were training for the new mission which required us to hold our breath for at least 3 minutes. However, she could barely reach 2 minutes. I laughed a little as she kept trying, I knew we would never be able to do it, it seemed absolutely impossible. I sighed. I closed my eyes and started to balance my weight on this chair. I was beginning to become friends with the woman who shot me. That was defiantly not something I planned. I smiled to myself as I heard footsteps behind me, I turned to see both Ethan and Benji behind me. I jumped up from the chair and immediately ran to them engulfing Ethan in a huge hug. He pulled back and gave me a kiss on the cheek.  
"Hi Kens." Ethan said letting me go. Right as he let me go I hugged Benji.  
"I missed you guys so much..." I told them.  
"We missed you too, I know Brandt does especially." I froze hearing his name. I walked out on him, I felt terrible for it and I hadn't gotten over it yet. I let Benji go, as I did I heard Ilsa getting out of the pool. I quickly threw her a towel attempting to regain composure.

"Who's Brandt?" She asked. 

"No one!" I told her I didn't want him involved and especially getting hurt because of me. She gave me a strange look but let it go.

"Shall we?" She asked. We all followed her into the living area. I cleared my throat as we all sat down ready to brief everyone on the mission. However, Ethan had other plans, he wanted to know about Soloman Lane.  
"His name is Soloman Lane, he created the Syndicate." Ilsa started to explain.  
"Where does he come from?" Ethan questioned.  
"He's former British Intelligence." I answered.  
"Well if British Intelligence knows the Syndicate exists why don't they just tell the CIA?" Benji asked the million dollar question.  
"Because they don't want the knowing that the Syndicate was created by one of their own." Ethan answered for me.  
"I was sent undercover to earn Lanes trust and eventually identify the members of his organization. And for the first time in 2 years I'm close to knowing who they are... Lane had a ledger. It contained the identity of his operatives, his terrorist associates, the entire workings of the Syndicate. One of his agents stole it hoping to blackmail him. He kept it in a secure computer facility for safekeeping. He died being interrogated for the access code." Ilsa explained her part.  
"It left Lane with a serious problem." I carried on for her.  
"So the key to crushing Lane is sitting in a computer waiting for someone to take it." Ethan seemed skeptical.  
"So why hasn't Lane just sent someone to steal it?" Benji asked.  
"Oh he has. He sent me. And I can tell you, it's impossible." I mentioned standing up.  
"The facility is hidden underneath a local power plant with military guard and the only way to download the ledger, is the central computer terminal, located here." I pointed.  
"To reach the terminal you will need to pass the main gate, access the elevator with fingerprint recognition, open three separate combination locks.." Ilsa said.  
"Well that's easy we just need to impersonate the agent who stole the ledger in the first place. I get to wear a mask." Benji seemed amused.  
"Unfortunately, if you could make it through every other security measure you wont beat the last one, because it's protected by gate analysis. A step beyond facial recognition. These cameras actually know how the agent walks, how he talks, how he moves. Right down to his facial ticks." I told him.  
"So what you're saying is no mask can beat it. And I'll wind up in a Moroccan jail." Benji realized the problem.  
"Okay I don't get to wear a mask." He seemed disappointed.   
"And there's no other way into the computer lab?" Ethan asked.  
"No."  
"Air shaft?" Ethan asked.  
"Six inch diameter pipe."Ilsa said.  
"Foundation?" Benji asked.  
"12 feet of concrete top and bottom" I said.  
"Electrical conduit?" They both asked.  
"Bottom line is there's no other way into that terminal unless your profile is pre-installed in the security system." Ilsa explained.  
"Profile. Where are the profiles stored?" Ethan asked, he was onto something, starting to figure it out.  
"All security data is stored offline in this liquid cold array. Here, inside the Taurus.." Benji explained pointing at the screen where he pulled up diagrams.  
"You mean that thing is underwater?" Ethan asked.  
"Yes." We all answered him.  
"Okay, so to get the ledger, one of us needs to enter the Taurus and change the security profile so that the other one can access the computer without pain? That's the only way?" Ethan asked finally putting the pieces together.  
"That's the only way." I answered.  
"Can I get in through there?" Ethan questioned pointing to a door inside the Taurus.  
"That's the service hatch it can only be opened from the inside. If you try and open it from the outside you'll be hit with 70 thousand gallons of pressurized water." Ilsa answered.  
"Where does the water come from?" Ethan asked.  
"Sea water flows in through the intake implant. And before you ask the system is designed to shut off automatcally if any metal is in the intake." She explained.  
"No oxygen tanks." Ethan said.  
"Alright, well how long will it take to free swim to the service hatch??" Benji asked.  
"2 minutes with the current at full power." I said.  
"Well then you just have to hold your breath for 2 minutes." Benji said to Ethan.  
"What about installing the security profile?" Ethan asked.  
"That'll take about a minute tops." Benji said waving off his worries.  
"So I have to hold my breath for 3 minutes." Ethan said annoyed at Benji.  
"You can do that." Benji said.  
"I think you're overlooking the physically exertion. The longer you hold your breath, the faster you consume oxygen." Ilsa said.  
"Don't worry about him, alright? All he has to do is install the fake profile before I get to the gate analysis." Benji was speaking for Ethan, I smiled, it was pretty comical.  
"You said it yourself, it's the only way. That doesn't sound impossible." Benji told Ilsa. I laughed a little looking at Ethan trying to hold in his protests. I got up and led Ethan to the kitchen.   
"So do you think you can do it??" I asked.  
"Of course I can Kensi. I just have to train a little harder than usual that's all." I smiled at him as I reached in the fridge to grab him a water.   
"So, Kensi tell me, when are you going to talk about him? Or to him for that matter? And what is this about you infiltrating the Syndicate?" He immediately was questioning me.  
"It's nothing Ethan and I'll talk to him when I'm ready. As for about him, what's wrong??" I asked now worried about him. He laughed.  
"Nothing's wrong with him. And I'm actually not sure the last time I talked to him was when he told us we got shut down by the CIA. So what made you decide to join the anti-IMF?" he asked changing the subject quickly.  
"I'm going to kill Soloman Lane." I said to him looking him in the eyes.  
"With or without your help."


	18. Chapter 18

Brandt POV  
I had called in a favor to Ethans old friend Luther. I had him coming in on a helicopter today to speak with me about Ethan and Benji.  
"Good to see you" I said as Luther had gotten out.  
"What couldn't you tell me over the phone?" He sounded annoyed and I knew he didn't trust me.  
"Chancellor of Austria was assassinated. We believe that Ethan and Benji were there. Hunley has handed it over to special activities devision. We need to find Ethan before they do, and that's where you come in."  
"Not interested" he said putting his hat on about to walk away from me.  
"Ok look Luther.." I was about to tell him about Kensi, he knew her pretty well. But he interrupted me before I could get words out.  
"Look man, I know Ethan. I don't know you. All I know about you is that you chose to work for Hunley."  
"Yeah, all I know about you is that you chose to resign." He laughed.  
"Man, you don't have to worry about Ethan. They'll never catch him." I sighed.  
"No, they're not going to catch him. This is the CIA, Hunley we are talking about, things are getting out of hand. No, they are going to kill him. They're going to kill Ethan, they're going to kill Benji. If Kensi is there probably her too. We have to get to them first, are you going to help me?"  
"You need to understand something. Ethan & Kensi are my friends and if I have one second of doubt who's side you are on" he tilted his head.  
"Got it." I said. He nodded and broke the silence that had surrounded us.  
"What do I have to go on?" he asked me  
"Not much" I said handing him the file I had, we both walked back to my car and hopped in as I drove us to the CIA.  
We had decided to overlook the special operations team by sitting in a glass office above where they worked. I was watching them, they had facial recognition, drones, TSA, the whole shabang, our efforts seemed hopeless but we were the IMF, we could get this done.  
"So how are we supposed to find Ethan and Benji when they are searching literally everything."  
"I'm not even looking for them, I'm looking for her." Who's her?? Kensi or the woman in the pictures Ethan had sketched?  
"What do you mean?" I asked.  
"Look at these photos, what do you see?" He pointed to Ethans sketches.  
"The man, he [Ethan] doesn't really know who that is. But the woman, he knows her." I said.  
"He trusts her. If he's not already with her he's on his way. Find her, find Ethan." He explained  
"Tell me it's possible to pull facial recognition off these sketches."  
"For mere mortals no, for me, I could've done this at home." I smiled, sighing a breath of relief. We could find Kensi, Ethan and Benji this way.  
"How long will this take?"  
"Found her. CCTV picked her up at the airport in Casablanca." I walked over to the computer we were using. I saw her picture on the security monitor and I saw myKensi with her. Oh god she had befriended her too.  
"What the hell?" I asked when the screen showed that both of them had been disavowed. Shit. What had she gotten herself into?  
"She's bad news." Luther said.  
"What the hell is going on.." I asked no one in particular I just wanted to get all of them back in safely especially Kensi.


	19. Chapter 19

Kensi POV  
Benji was set and ready to go for his big entrance. Ethan was freaking out because this could kill him. Ilsa and I were mentally preparing for what would happen if we got caught. Ethan, Ilsa, I had skydived in to get on top of the building. I shot a signal blocker at the camera so it would shut off and not give away our positions. Right when we landed we quickly gathered up our parachutes and stuffed them away in our backpacks. We found where we needed to go rather quickly and slid down the roof to the center where we needed to drop down. Ethan put a device on the glass and it shattered the glass efficiently. One by one we jumped through the skylight window and I turned around and deactivated the signal blocker. Ethan told Benji we were in so he could finally get through the main gate. We walked through the facility and up some stairs where I would perch til Ethan was for sure in and done with the mission to install the profile for Benji. I took the tablet from Ethan and sat down ready to shut off the water for the Taurus. I started typing and suddenly there was a large shake that went through the hanging metal contraption I was sitting on.  
"One more time. You'll have 3 minutes. 2.5 minutes to install the security profile and 30 seconds to escape through the service hatch." I said as I put the security profile in Ethans suit.  
"Remember, conserve oxygen, don't move a muscle if you don't have to." Benji reminded him through the earpiece.  
"Ethan, you can do this." I said looking him in the eyes begging him silently not to die. He was one of my best friends. I kissed him on the cheek before he started doing his deep breathing. I started seeing his oxygen in the suit build up, perfect we were almost ready to go.  
"I'm in the elevator" Benjis voice rang through on my comms unit. Plan was going well so far. I started pressing more buttons on the tablet making sure the success for this mission would go swimmingly. Hopefully no issues would arise.   
"That current will carry you to the Taurus" Ilsa informed Ethan.  
"Once you are there I will shut it down." I told him.  
"Important note: The profile is in slot 108. And a slightly more important note, if you haven't switched that profile before I reach the gate, I'm dead." Benji reminded us all.  
"Got it Benji." I told him slightly annoyed he was making Ethan freak out a little more. The clock for the oxygen was set, it was time.  
"You got this Ethan." I told him trying to be encouraging. He leaned himself over the railing getting ready for the jump. He took one more deep breath then jumped. Immediately after he was gone I felt a sense of terror, something wasn't right. I looked to Ilsa to see if she felt the same way. She didn't know Ethan the way I did, I'm sure she didn't understand. I waited a couple more minutes then decided it was time to shut down the water flow. I tapped on the tablet a couple more times. I looked at my watch again. 53 seconds. All of a sudden the water flow turned back on. I was so confused. What the hell? On my screen it popped up as secure. I tried to override it but I couldn't, it gave me an error sound.  
"What's happening??" Ilsa asked.  
"I don't know they must have figured out what was going on.... Shit!!" I exclaimed. I glanced back at Ethan's oxygen level. It was getting super low.   
"Oh god." I started mentally freaking out, he was going to die if we didn't do something quickly. I gave him a couple more seconds before my mind was made up. I handed my tablet to Ilsa.   
"What're you doing??" She asked me.  
"Ethan is my friend, he trained me, I will not let him die this way." I said to her.  
"Meet me where we planned." I told her, she gulped and nodded quickly. I sighed and started my breathing exercises. I wasn't planning on getting wet today but oh well I guess my plans had changed.  
"2 minutes tops" I thought to myself, I could do that and with that last thought I jumped. I quickly was inside the Taurus. I saw Ethan floating along with the current. Oh geez.. I thought, his weight and my weight combined, I didn't think about that being an issue, the current with the weight would be the main problem. It took me 2 tries to get to the service hatch but I made it and that's what mattered. Finally, we were pushed out of the Taurus. I dragged Ethan out of the building and found a defibrillator to shock him with.  
"Ethan you cannot die on me." I yelled at him. His eyes opened, and he started coughing up water. Suddenly, both Benji and Ilsa started down the stairs.  
"See what'd I tell you?? Difficult but not impossible." He started and immediately stopped once he saw both Ethan and I were wet and the defibrillator was next to him.   
"Is he alright?? What happened?!! What happened??" Benji neared me. He handed me some clothes and Ilsa came over to talk to me as I changed out of my wet clothes.  
"You know what we have to do, right?" I sighed, I hated this part. This was going to hurt me bad, but this was the cost I had to pay for playing a disavowed agent from the IMF infiltrating the Syndicate. Fuck.  
"Yes." I answered as I pulled on the pants I was given. I smiled as I heard Benji saying we got it, he sounded so happy. Now I had to take it away from them, I frowned. Ilsa had left my side, I turned around quickly to see her with the defibrillator, she had shocked Benji. She quickly grabbed the flash drive he was holding and raced out of the parking garage.  
"Sorry guys, I have to go." I said to them and raced after her.  
"Kensi!!!" I heard Ethan try to yell after me but he barely reached a whisper.  
"Here you go." Ilsa passed off the flash drive to me and I stuffed it in a pocket close to my person in my jacket. I was running after Ilsa suddenly we burst out of a door into the sunlight. We had a car we were supposed to be able to get into but Ilsas handprint didn't work.  
"What?!" I asked her completely lost.   
"He still doesn't trust me." I turned feeling a presence behind me.  
"Where's Hunt?" They asked.  
"He's dead." Ilsa said looking to her left to see another man surrounding the both of us. They had other gear for us to put on. Motorcycle gear. This would be fun, I looked to Ilsa she nodded and we put on our helmets ready to escape.


	20. Chapter 20

Kensi POV  
Ilsa immediately whipped out one of her tricks and did a spin on her bike making all our assailants bikes fall down. I laughed a little but immediately revved my engine and peeled out of the lot. She was following me, but I let her ahead of me so they would think she had the Ledger. Soon we were face to face with Ethan again, in the drivers seat of a BMW and Benji looking terrified in the passengers seat, after all Ethan was dead a couple minutes ago. Was it smart to let him drive a car? Ilsa spun us around as I whipped a U turn still following her. We jumped down a giant flight of about 20 stairs with Ethan and Benji still following.

Brandt POV  
"I thought you said you could find them?" I asked Luther. We were currently in Morocco trying to locate the woman by the name of Ilsa.  
"I said I could locate them, you have to find them" Luther told me. I looked out the window of the rental car we were in, I was driving, naturally. We were just driving around looking for anything to pop up on Luthers little tablet he had brought with him. These 2 motorcycles all of a sudden cut us off our path we were driving, Immediately they were followed by Ethan and Benji driving a BMW. Ethan clipped our side and stopped for a second. We nodded at each other but I was stunned and confused, they sped off just as Benji was going to say something.  
"Found them." I said as I made the move to follow them but the car we were in couldn't quite swing it, again I looked up and there were more motorcycles after them. What the hell was going on??  
"C'mon man!!" Luther exclaimed.  
"It's a high speed chase!! You just had to get the 4x4 didn't you??" I scolded him.  
"Don't blame me, you choose the car." He rebuttled.  
"You just had to have it!!" I yelled.  
"Alright fine you want me to drive??! Look at how slow your going!! Speed it up!!" He yelled back.

Kensi POV  
We took an alley way and jumped in front of this hummer looking car as we hooked around the corner in into the street, I was focused on not getting caught or killed. I wasn't aware of much of anything I was just super focused on where I had to be going following Ilsa. There was this man behind us who had jumped in front of Ethan and Benji who decided to start shooting at us. Fuck. But I loved high speed chases, they were my favorite. I looked in my rear view mirrors and he was booted out of the way because Ethan had hit him with the car. There was more shooting behind us. But the BMW was getting in their way of them hitting us so all was well. All of a sudden Ethan was gone from my side mirror, he had diverted the shooters away from Ilsa and I. I'll have to thank him for that later. We sped off, I couldn't worry about them right now, but it was hard not to. For some reason that hummer kept popping into my mind, the driver looked really familiar but it was a blur we were moving so fast.

Brant POV  
I saw a man with a gun approaching Ethans flipped and now crushed BMW. I made a split second decision and hit him with the hummer. I got out with Luther and ran to the flipped BMW.   
"You good??" I asked Ethan who was awake, Benji seemed to be unconscious.  
"Things got a little out of hand" Ethan told me as Benji woke up screaming "AHH LOOK OUT" I pulled open the door to the BMW and helped Ethan stand on his feet. I walked over to Benjis side door and pulled it off too.  
"Oh hey boys what did I miss??" Benji asked. We heard the motorcycles before we saw them. I saw the hair of the one of the ones in the lead.  
"Kensi??" I all but whispered to no one in particular. Then I saw the gang of more motorcycles following them.  
"Yeah one of thems her." Ethan informed me. I didn't know what to think. She was a traitor, working with the Syndicate. No that couldn't be her, there had to be a good explanation for this. I was feeling anger but also hope for the situation. I hadn't seen her in ages. I missed her so much. But I couldn't let my feelings clog this now I had to get Benji out and not loose them again. I had to cut Benji out with my knife I brought with me. I heard a motorcycle engine start up and looked up to see Ethan straddling a BMW bike. Before I could do anything he was gone and I focused more on getting Benji out so we could catch up to him.

Kensi POV  
We were racing up this highway cutting around anyone that got in our way looping and jumping around cars, trailers and trucks. It was so much fun. We were going around a ton of curves in the highway and up a hill which was an adrenaline rush for me. All of a sudden Ilsa decided to stop, I wondered why and just stopped and waited behind a bend in the road for her. Not questioning her moves. She walked out into the middle of the street. I saw Ethan come around the corner on a bike. I remember thinking oh shit before he toppled the bike so he wouldn't hit her. Ilsa walked back over to me and got back on her bike. We made our way back the other direction that we came from. I just stared at Ethan with my eyes begging him to forgive me, I knew I was going against my team and I hated it. I knew he hated it too. We slowly got back out on the road and drove off to where we were meeting Lane.


	21. Chapter 21

Brandt POV  
We ended up losing all of them: Ethan, Ilsa and Kensi in their chase. We met Ethan at this abandoned house off the road. We all joined him at the table he was sitting at. He looked defeated. It was silent until Luther broke it,  
"So what do we do now?" he asked.  
"Please tell me you made a copy of that disk." Ethan directed that question to Benji. Benji made a deep sigh, but held something in his hand.  
"Of course I made a copy." He smiled.  
"So where are we going?" I asked Ethan super curious about what was going to happen. I wanted to keep the topic clear of Kensi. He didn't say anything just kinda nodded. I put the pieces together. London.

Kensi POV  
I let Ilsa go alone to London to visit Attlee. I was standing near by of course where their meeting would be taking place, just to make sure nothing specific happened and I needed to intervene.  
"It's a ledger, the Syndicates entire infrastructure. Who they are, the politicians they control, and where the money comes from. Its everything you want to know." She spoke to Attlee.  
Something seemed off to me about the meeting. She was disavowed, she went "rogue" according to Attlee when I met with him. Shit. I had just realized the problem, however, I had to let it play out.  
"What makes you think this so called ledger is authentic?" He asked.  
"Why would Lane want it so badly if it wasn't authentic?" She countered.  
"Why would he let you have it if it was? Did you never stop to consider that he may want me to have it? Misinformation, manipulation it's what he does Ilsa. It's what he's trained to do. Lane lies to you sell the slice to Hunt, together you're both compromised. That's his ultimate objective. This may be authentic. But there's only one person I trust to verify that information. You." He countered her.  
"No." She whispered. I knew she didn't want to be back in the game, she'd been at this for a long time. Almost 3 years.  
"My orders were to deliver you information in regarding the Syndicate." She continued  
"Your orders were to infiltrate the Syndicate so that we could learn more about them first hand. It's a test like everything else. The only way to pass is to go back." He explained to her like she was stupid. I wanted to punch him in the face, but I remained hidden in my spot.  
"I can't do that. I betrayed Lanes trust too many times." That was true but she had me. I zoned out thinking about what to do about the situation. Then all of a sudden I snapped out of it. Someone ran into me spilling coffee all over my jacket. Fuck. She walked back and up to me.  
"Lets go." she said curtly. We walked for a while before I asked her about the rest of the conversation.  
"How'd it go? What happened?" I asked.  
"They won't bring me in and apparently I'm a rogue assassin." She answered.  
"Hey, me too." I told her, smiling slightly trying to lighten the mood.  
"Listen, I know I'll have to complete your job. You can get out now if you want to." I told her seriously.  
"No. I'm coming with you, but he'll trust you more than he trusts me right now. So you're going to be the one to present the information." She told me. I nodded and followed her to where we were going to meet Lane.

Ethan POV

"I can't open it." Luther told us all.

"What do you mean you can't open it?!" I asked him.

"I mean I can't open it, ever." Luther said again.

"That's a red box." Benji said leaning over his shoulder.

"It's a what??" Brandt asked.

"a red box. It's used to transfer information that has state secrets."

"Doesn't sound good." Brandt said.

"It's triple encrypted."

"You're not getting in unless you have fingerprints, retinal scan and a voice phrase from a specific individual." Benji explained.

"The prime minister of Great Britain himself." I said.

"Yes." Benji said.

"So what you're saying is... There is no ledger, so we have no proof that the Syndicate actually exists.. We're back to square one, except now we are all wanted by the CIA. I'm so proud of us." Brandt said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes sick of him. 

"You know what Brandt? You didn't have to come. You only came because Kensi is here and you needed to find her." I burst out at him.

"You know that's not true Ethan I'm here to help you evade the CIA for as long as I can." He shot back at me and I rolled my eyes once again getting a headache from being around him.

"What I don't understand is why is there a box sat in a private data vault in Morocco?" Benji spoke his thoughts interrupting our disagreement.

"And why would Lane want it if he can't open it?" Luther asked.

"If he want's it you can bet that he has a plan to open it... And we just helped him steal it." Benji spoke. He was right.

"He's going to take the prime minister." Luther said.

"Yes he is. The only question is how." I asked everyone.

"We have to warn the British Government." Benji said.

"Yeah, MI6" Brandt said going to pull out his phone.

"Brandt. Put down the phone. Let's think about this." I tried to reason with him.

"We have a responsibility to the British Government. And not gamble with the prime ministers life. Just so you can beat the guy who's beaten you at every turn." He told me.

"Is that what you think this is?" I asked him. He was not who I thought he was. This was Dubai all over again. 

"Brandt.. Is that what you think this is??" I asked again.

"I think right now you are incapable of seeing there's another way." He told me.

"And sometimes Ethan is the only one capable of seeing the only way." Luther defended me.

"And if he's wrong then we have Vienna all over again!!!" Brandt yelled. I got up from my seat and walked over to him.

"You don't know him. If he wants something to happen there is no preventing it!!" I yelled back.

"That's why we have to warn the British." Brandt tried more to reason.

"Maybe that's exactly what he wants us to do." I tried to make him see my point.

"Are you listening to yourself? We are going to warn the British." He said holding his phone.

"No. We are going to find Lane and we are going to get him before he takes the prime minister." I told him.

"Okay, alright we are going to find Lane. But please tell me, how are we going to do that?" All of a sudden the tablet beeped, Ilsa was caught on a camera at a train station. Ilsa was the key.

"And tell me, where does Kensi fit into all of this?" He asked. Both Benji and I looked at each other.

"She's infiltrated them. We didn't get to ask questions that's all we know." I told him letting him come to the conclusion himself. I knew he was worried about her and her part in all this, but he shouldn't be, he's an agent he knows what she is capable of, so why worry?

"She's going to kill him." He said realizing her part in all of this for the first time. He sat back down and put his head in his hands knowing she was too close to this and that she could very well be killed. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder trying to be supportive.

"She's going to be okay." I told him.

"She's going to be fine."


	22. Chapter 22

Kensi POV

I walked into a graveyard. An odd place to meet, but oh it was Lane.. Ilsa was following closely behind me, I knew she was scared. Hell, I was too but I had to be confident in what I was doing act like nothing was wrong. That's the key to success. We walked up to a Range Rover and some men got out. One walked up to me expecting the flash drive in his hand. I placed it there without a fuss. He glanced over at Ilsa and I looked down at the ground, he held his hand out again. She placed a gun in his hand. He smiled and walked away from me. Solomon Lane was leaning up against a gravestone. Looking at us. He directed his words at mainly me but also Ilsa.

"All is forgiven."

"That isn't a ledger is it??" Ilsa spoke from behind me.

"You didn't take a look for yourself?" He asked both of us.

"Of course I did. But it was encrypted." She told him. I nudged her a little in order to get her to lessen up on what she told him.

"Then why would I lie to you?" He asked.

"So that she would lie to Ethan Hunt." I spoke, hoping to take some of the tension off her.

"But he wouldn't of stolen it if he knew what it was and you wouldn't have helped him.." He walked closer to us and she took a tiny step behind me.

"What is actually on that disk??" I asked him.

"I'll be honest with you when you start being honest with me." I smirked. Ilsa what the hell did you get us into. However, I had to play my part accordingly. I judged his movements more critically to find my best reaction.

"You and I we both know why you came back. Don't we?" He started. He took Ilsa from behind me and walked away a little bit just enough so that I could eavesdrop a little. Not much happened, she called him a terrorist and he disagreed telling her his methods were only to help the government. They walked back over to me.

"It's empty." One of his henchmen told us. Fuck, Attlee must've done something. Lane glared at me put took his anger out on Ilsa. He touched her face.

"I'm interested to see who you blame for what happens next." She moved her face away and stayed calm. He sat us down and told us the plan of what was to happen next.

***

We were at London terminal, walking through Ilsa still walking slightly behind me. I knew she desperately wanted out now, it was getting to be a little grueling for her. I saw Ethan before I saw anyone else. He appeared right in front of me. We stopped. We both turned around and saw Benji waving behind us in a red jacket. He stood out, that was who they were going to take. I looked to the side and near some red tiles I saw the man I had been avoiding for a while, William Brandt. It was the first time in a really long time I had seen him. He took off his sunglasses and we locked eyes. My heart started beating faster but I couldn't get caught up in this right now. I looked a little behind Ethan and saw Luther on the phone. We were surrounded. Ethan led us to sit down at a table we followed but I couldn't keep my eyes off of Brandt, I missed him more than I thought I did.

"I have to say, you sure can ride."Ethan said to both of us.

"Ethan." I was about to interrupt him.

"Both of you were just doing your jobs. That's all I'm gonna say about it." He looked at me mostly.

"Attlee said you would understand." Ilsa cut in.

"You're handler British Intelligence." Ethan put together. We both nodded.

"They didn't bring you in? Even after you gave him the disk." Ethan directed this to Ilsa.

"You knew perfectly well it was blank." She said. Ethan tilted his head. He really didn't know it was blank. I knew it wouldn't be blank, Benji would've made a exact copy.

"Was it in your possession the entire time?" Ethan asked her.

"Ilsa. You set it down on some newspapers." I whispered to her. She sighed and realized what I had realized.

"They don't care if you live or die. But you knew I was going to take it to him." She told both me and Ethan.

"I had hoped you would, I hoped it would be enough to get you out, so Kensi could finish your job and they'd let you go." Ethan explained to Ilsa. He was wearing a comms unit. I knew after he paused for a minute they were all talking amongst each other. I hated being on the outside. They were putting the pieces together.

"So I have a question. Who are you working for now?" Ethan asked.

"Lane." I answered clearly and soundly.

"Lane, Attlee, you're government, my government. It's all the same." Ilsa replied at the same time I did.

"We only believe we are fighting for the right side because that's what we choose to believe." She continued.

"So where does that leave us?" Ethan asked her.

"The way I see it, you have 3 choices."

"One, you hand Kensi, me and the disk over to the CIA. We're proof the Syndicate exists, and it becomes their problem. You're work is done. But you know they won't believe you and you'll all be tried for treason. Lane goes free." Ilsa said.

"Two, you let us walk away to an uncertain fate. You use the disk as bait to trap Lane. But some part of you suspects you've met your match. And being a gambler you'll probably end up handing Lane that disk whether you want that or not." I said.

"And option 3?" Ethan asked.

"Come away with me. Right now." WOAW. I was not expecting that from her.

"What about Lane?" Ethan asked.

"Forget about Lane. There will always be another Lane. There will always be people like us to face him. We've done our part and we've been cast aside. We can be anyone. We can do anything. It's only a matter of going." Ilsa said. Damn. That was awkward.

"Lane sent you a message to deliver, didn't he?" Ethan asked me.

"I've saved your life twice. I won't be able to do it again." Ilsa spoke.

"What's the message?" Ethan pressed. I took out a phone and slid it across the table. I knew what would happen next. I hated going against all of them. It destroyed the comm units in their ears, Ethan looked at the phone. Benji was gone. Ilsa grabbed the arm of my jacket. Ethan told Luther to watch us, but we quickly escaped. Gone, again.

Brandt POV

It was amazing to see her again. She hadn't changed much, the woman I loved was standing right in front of me with the enemy. I couldn't bear to break eye-contact with her. I missed her so much. I just stared at her while watching the conversation between her, Ilsa and Ethan took place. Then a disturbing noise was in my ears. What the hell?! Kensi... What the hell was she doing? BENJI.. BENJI WAS GONE.. Both Ethan and I ran to the parking garage after him because Ethan had seen the feed on the phone.

"They're gone. I lost them." Luther told us running up to us.

"They set us up."

"No. She delivered a message." Ethan told me. I refused to listen to him.

"SHE SET US UP. SHE KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!!!!" I yelled. I was having a hard time coming to terms with Kensi working for the bad guys.

"ONLY LANE KNOWS WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN."Ethan tried to reason. The phone in his hand rang.

"I accept." Ethan said and hung up.

"He wants the disk. Unlocked by midnight tonight." Ethan said I shook my head.

"There's only one person who can unlock that disk." Luther said.

"We have to take the prime minister." Ethan said.

"Let's just think about that for a minute." I tried to reason.

"It's the only way to get Benji back." He countered.

"Ethan. That's exactly what Lane wants you to do." I told him.

"Which is why it has to happen." He said. He walked towards me.

"This is how we meet Lane. This is how we make everything right. Can you see? Can't you see it?" He asked me. I thought he was going insane. I had to call Hunley. He could help us. I walked away from Ethan and outside to a payphone.

"I knew you would come to your senses Brandt."

"I'm only calling you because I have no other choice. I'm trying to prevent a catastrophe." I told him.

"Where are you?" He asked me

"London." I told him. I hated going against Ethan, but I knew it would turn out in the long run.

"Where in London?" He asked as I heard him rerouting the plane to London.

"I'll tell you when you land, not before." I answered keeping strong responses.

"I'm not interested in playing games Brandt." He told me

"And I'm not interested in seeing my friends getting killed either. So we are going to do this on my terms and my terms only. Is that understood? Keep your phone on instructions will follow." I told him and hung up. I walked back to the building where Luther and Ethan were hiding out.

"You okay?" Luther asked.

"We are supposed to take down the prime minister of Great Britain today. So..." I left off.

"Brandt. I don't see another way." Ethan said sincerely.

"Neither can I. But we do what we have to do for our friends." I told him and walked away.


	23. Chapter 23

Benji POV

They pulled the bag off of my head and I was face to face with Soloman Lane. The man in Ethans sketches, the man Kensi now worked for. Neither her nor Ilsa were anywhere to be seen. Lane walked closer to me, way too close for comfort.

"Get him ready please." He told the man next to me. Ready for what?? Fuck. It always happened to be me.

Brandt POV

I watched as Hunley got out of his car with his agent next to him. We were at a gala auction where we knew the prime minister would be. I walked up to greet him.

"You were right to call me Brandt, where is Hunt?" he wanted to get straight to the point.

"He's on his way. We don't have much time." I replied knowing exactly where he was.

"What does he plan to do?" He tried to help me out.

"Well what matters is that he's alive. I need your reassurance that he's going to stay that way." I told him not willing to help out.

"Have you informed the British government that Hunt is targeting him?" He asked me.

"I will help you capture Hunt, alive. That is the deal." I told him.

"You picked up some bad habits from your friend, Brandt. The worst of them being you still believe you can control any outcome." Hunley told me as he went to go talk to Attlee. He told his agent to stay with me. I heard their conversation from nearby.

"Chief Attlee.. Chief Attlee." Hunley approached him.

"Director Hunley how delightful to see you here. Last I heard you were hunting a rogue agent in Morocco." 'Attlee' told him.

"Chief Attlee I have reason to believe that the prime ministers life is in danger." He spoke.

"I'm listening." Attlee said. They looked at me then walked away. The party was beginning.

"What's this about?" The prime minister asked as he walked into the room where Hunley and I were.

"It's a matter of national security sir." Attlee told him.

"Under no circumstances is anyone allowed to enter." Attlee told the guards outside as he locked the prime minster in the room with Hunley and I.

"Help me to understand. Who is this man? Why is he after me?" the prime minister asked.

"I'm afraid Director Hunley and I share responsibility for this." Attlee said.

"Yes, Ethan Hunt was part of a disgraced intelligence agency that has since been dissolved." Hunley explained.

"Now he's gone rogue, unfortunately intent on dismantling an imaginary terror network" Attlee told him.

"New intelligence suggests that he's been manipulated by one of your own former agents." Hunley picked up again.

"Ilsa Faust prime minister, she disappeared 2 years ago." Attlee brought this up.

"And if you don't mind me asking, what do I have to do with all this?" the Prime minster questioned.

"Sir, This is William Brandt a former colleague of Hunt's he came forward with first hand knowledge of the incident." Hunley introduced me.

"Sir, Hunts in possession of a virtual red box that can only be opened by you. He believes it is the key to bring down the Syndicate." I told him.

"the Syndicate you say?" he looked surprised.

"Yes sir that's what he calls it." I spoke.

"Attlee, you couldn't possibly be talking about THAT syndicate? Because you assured me that that syndicate was merely an exercise." the prime minister questioned him.

"And it was prime minister I assure you." Attlee defended.

"And yet here we have the Central Intelligence Agency indicating otherwise." he countered.

"I don't understand." Hunley added in.

"Prime minister. You're life is in danger, I think our first step is to move you to a secure location..." Attlee tried again.

"Does the name Soloman Lane ring a bell?" I interrupted.

"Yes. Unfortunately. It does." He answered me.

"So there's actually is a Syndicate?" Hunley was so confused.

"it was the hypothetical brain child of Chief Attlee. Recruit former agents from other nations, supply them with a new identity, use them to surgically remove our enemies both at home and abroad. It's operating budget was to be hidden off shore in a virtual red box which I alone would control. It would've made me judge, jury and executioner with zero accountability. I rejected the proposal unequivocally. More I was given every assurance it never finished the planning stage." The prime minister continued.

"Prime minister, there is no syndicate. These men have been duped by agent Faust" Attlee covered.

"Save it for the public enquiry." Prime minister told him.

"Sir, I urge you not to leave this room" Hunley said.

"Hunt is uniquely trained and highly motivated - a specialist without equal - immune to any countermeasures. There is no secret he cannot extract, no security he cannot breach, no person he cannot become. He has most likely anticipated this very conversation and is waiting to strike in whatever direction we move. Sir, Hunt is the living manifestation of destiny - and he has made you his mission." Hunley told him trying to sway him.

"Prime minister." Attlee interrupted them. Holding a gun to him he shot him with a sedative. He finally took off his mask. Ethan Hunt had been playing Attlee all along. Of course I knew that though, but Hunley did not.

"Sir please step away from the prime minister." Ethan told Hunley. He did as he was told and I approached the prime minister.

"Sir, just relax" I told him as I was near his side.

"Attlee shot me." He mumbled out.

"Yes he did sir." Ethan threw me some stuff to get his fingerprints and retinal scanner. Hunley said something to Ethan but I was too busy focusing on doing all these things right to hear them. I finished his retinal scan next I needed to do his hand print. I laid his hand on a tablet.

"You've got a very warm hand." he told me. I looked at Ethan just to make sure I heard that right. He just gave me a shrug.

"Sir, I'm going to need a pass phrase. The prompt is KIPPLING." I told the prime minister.

"Yes of course." He agreed still a little high on the drug. He said some words but his voice was too slurred for me to understand what he said.

"You got it?" I asked Luther into the phone.

"Oh man do I got it" Luther told me into the phone.

We knew the real Attlee would be coming. We hid behind the doors with guns. Then closed them once he entered.

"Chief Attlee, kind of you to accept our invitation." Ethan said then shot him with a sedation dart. He fell.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked us.

"We know you created the Syndicate. But Lane went rogue and turned it against you. And you've been desperate to cover it up. That's why you erased the disk when agent Faust brought it to you." Ethan told him.

"That's true." He said.

"Now director Hunley has some questions for you regarding Ilsa Faust. Namely how you framed her." Ethan explained.

"That's also true." We got up and handed Hunley the antidote, Ethan told him what it was and that we would be back.

"When the prime minister found out about the Syndicate Attlee attacked him." I said.

"Yes that's true" The prime minster said in the background.

"Then you saved the prime minister. Sir." I explained to him.

"Did he? I'm very grateful" the prime minister said. Ethan then handed him a gun and he nodded and we left. We were leaving the building and Ethan called Lane.

"I have what you want... Where do I go?" Ethan asked. He must've told him because we got in the car immediately and went to talk to Luther, plus Ethan had to drop me off.

"Ethan, wait." Luther said as he jumped out of the car.

"If I'm not there in 15 minutes they will kill Benji."

"The mission is to bring down the Syndicate. If Lane gets his hands on that money you're unleashing a terrorist superpower." Luther explained

"They won't take me alive, I'll make sure of that." Ethan told him.

"What happens Ethan? If you don't make it back?" I asked.

"I'll make it back." He seemed really sure of himself.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because Kensi is out there, I know she won't let either Benji or me die... Just be ready." He told me. I nodded, I knew that. Damn, my feelings were getting ahold of me again. He opened the laptop which had Attlees message to the prime minister telling him that he had 2.5 billion pounds available at his fingertips for the operations of the Syndicate and with that Ethan left with the flash drive on his way to finish the job and get Benji back hopefully.


	24. Chapter 24

Ethan POV

I was walking towards this quaint little restaurant I didn't see Ilsa I only saw Kensi sitting with Benji. Ilsa wasn't there. I really hope her not being there meant they let her go. Kensi looked stressed but she knew what she was doing. I trusted that woman with my life. I looked around but I didn't see Lane anywhere to be seen. I had hoped that he would show his face. But he didn't, his henchmen were here though. I walked towards both Benji and Kensi. Benji didn't move a muscle, he had an earwig in. Something was off. Benji started speaking in Lane's voice.

"This is the end Mr. Hunt." I looked at Benji more closely, he was wearing a certain type of lens where there was a camera. I went to touch him Kensi looked like she was going to cry.

"Careful!" She whispered to me. I lifted the jacket he was wearing to reveal a time clock.

"2 pounds of samtex, 500 thirty caliber ball bearings. Your friend is sitting on a very high sensitive pressure trigger. So no sudden moves." Damn. It was weird hearing Benji say this to me. I looked back at Kensi. She had a gun.

"You're final test." I asked her.

"When Lane has what he wants I kill you and Benji, if not everyone dies." Kensi replied to me. I took a look around to see his henchmen carrying semi auto weapons.

"No time to think Ethan. Take a seat please." Benji said. Benji had tears in his eyes. I needed to get us all out of this alive. I sat down across from Benji.

"Human nature. My weapon of choice. The moment I killed the young lady in the record shop I knew you would stop at nothing to catch me. I also knew Ilsa wouldn't have a choice, whether she broke you that night or let you go. Whether you let her run in Morocco or not, whether she went to Attlee or not." He spoke.

"You were certain we'd end up where we are, right now and again, so was I. I know you Lane, somewhere along the line you had a crisis of faith. Human life didn't matter anymore. Maybe it never really did. Either way you killed too many of innocent people without ever asking who was giving the orders or why. You blame the system for what you are instead of yourself. You wanted revenge, but Rome wasn't destroyed in a day. You needed help, you needed money and a lot of it. And you'll stop at nothing to get it. That's how I know I'm going to put you in a box." I replied.

"Where's the disk?" he yelled.

"You like to play games. I have a game for you." I started writing on a napkin.

"I'll give you 50 million dollars to let Benji go." I negotiated.

"Wheres the disk??" he yelled at me again.

"You're looking at it. I am the disk. I memorized all 2.4 billion in numbered accounts, that vest goes off you get nothing. Without this money you are nothing. Without me you are nothing. Right now you're thinking it's a bluff. I'd never let my friends die. I couldn't possibly memorize the entire disk. There's only one way to be sure. Let Benji go." I watched the clock on Benjis vest stop. Oh thank god. No one would die today. I heard Kensi sigh with relief along with Benji. He had his men moving in on me.

"They come one step closer, shoot me" I told Kensi, she scooted closer to me pressing her gun against my chest. They stopped.

"Remember one day I told you you would take things too far? This is me speaking by the way, not him." Benji said to me and I smiled.

"The only way this ends is you and me Lane face to face. Only this time I won't be locked in a glass box. You want your money? The bone doctors going to have to beat it out of me. Now let Benji go." I think I made my point. He must've told Benji the number because he typed it into the vest he was wearing and it released. Benji took out the contact lens and got up. I handed him a phone and said,

"Go." 

"Ethan..." He tried to argue with me.

"Brandt and Luther are waiting.. Go." Finally Benji left. I looked around at his men, one of them was inching closer. I glanced at Kensi. Her eyes locked with mine and we both had a moment. She nodded slightly. Once I saw the gun I ducked under her arm covering her from bullets, she killed him. I heard someone else pull a gun and immediately changed her arm position to kill that guy. I took her gun from her and she used me for cover pulling us out of the restaurant as I shot at Lane's hench men.

Kensi POV

Ethan and I got out unscathed although we were shot at which I was a little upset about (name that reference). I knew he had a plan for Lane I would talk to him about that later but right now we needed to get out of here. He knew I wanted him dead, maybe his way would be better. We ran across a street and into an alleyway however a car had pulled out in front of us.

"Which way?" I asked out of breath. He ran in a different direction and I followed him. They were shooting at us, of course. We hid behind some pillars and waited for them to come. When they got close enough we jumped out from the pillars and attacked them, trying to get their guns out of their hands first. Ethan saw another car pull up he took the gun from the guy he was attacking and shot one of them. I started running away. He followed after me. Another car pulled up. Ethan shot the two inside. We continued running. We took a small break in a building alleyway, gathering our breathing. He looked at how many rounds he had left and it turned out he had none. I nodded at him and we started running again. Ethan took out the man who was pursuing us still. I had a moment where I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to leave my friend behind but I needed to go. I ran up some stairs and into a building where I knew Ilsa was hiding waiting for me. This building had a bunch of fun pillars we could hide behind and be stealthy. I found her and she nodded at me. I found a knife and held it close to me. I kept moving closer to him so I could attack and kill him. I jumped out the same time Ilsa did I stabbed him once and she punched him. I fell on the ground as he looked appalled at both of us. She took a step backwards. He had a surprise of his own. He took out a knife as well, a very large one at that. He said something to me in a language I didn't really understand. Ilsa spoke,

"Now lets see what you are made of." She told me. She attacked him from behind while I went at him with a knife. He ended up cutting me a couple times pushed me up against a pillar but I came back strong trying to keep his attention off of Ilsa. I threw her the knife so I could catch my breath for a second. She fought him for a little while which I threw some punches. She stabbed him in the thigh. She made more advances but he countered them. Eventually, she wrapped her leg around his arm climbed on top of his shoulders and came down on him stabbing him in the spinal cord. He finally fell. I had separated from Ethan I needed to find him quickly, I needed to see Lane go down. I forgot about Ilsa for a minute and I ran into the sewer where I had saw him last running after Ethan. I walked up behind him seeing Lane in a glass box where he was trying to shoot Brandt, Ethan, Benji and I. Ilsa ended up walking up behind me, I don't know how she found us but she did.

"Remember me now? I am the person you shot about a year ago on the street in India. Kensi O'Connell. Gentleman, this is Soloman Lane, Mr. Lane, meet the IMF." I told him. God it felt so good to put him in a box. Ethan smiled proud of his work. Benji flipped a switch and the box flooded with gas. Once it was full he turned on the lights. We were in the parking garage. Ethan tilted the box over and shoved it into a van marked Police. Benji locked the doors on it. Ilsa was standing by the BMW car I figured I would give her and Ethan some space. I walked away with Benji, Brandt and Luther. We got changed and into some more comfortable clothing. They were hugging when Luther said we needed to go. She looked over and saw me in the van as well she smiled and waved then got in the car, she said something else to Ethan and closed the door and drove off. Ethan walked over to us and got in. We drove off too with the sirens on. I was back with my team and Soloman Lane wasn't my problem anymore. I looked over to the guy next to me who was staring at me in a different way than before.

"Kensi." I heard my name. I smiled and he put his hand on my cheek. I leaned into it.

"I love you." I whispered to him. He didn't say anything back just leaned forwards and caught my lips in a long kiss. I smiled into the kiss knowing not much had changed although everything had changed. He broke away first.

"I love you too O'Connell."


	25. Chapter 25

Brandt POV

Once again director Hunley and I were sitting in front of a councilmen again.

"Director Hunley" they said getting his attention once again.

"6 months ago you stood before this panel and demanded that the IMF be dissolved." The councilmen said.

"That is correct sir." Hunley stated.

"How do you explain your testimony today?" he asked.

"It's quite easy really. We had reason to believe that the Syndicate had infiltrated our government at the highest level. In order for our man to infiltrate that organization the cover had to be absolute. The operation was known only to myself and a handful of IMF agents." Hunley replied.

"So the shuttering of the IMF was all part of an elaborate scheme to expose the so called Syndicate?" he asked him.

"That is correct sir." Hunley replied.

"So you're here today to ask that the IMF be reinstated." He asked Hunley.

"That is correct sir." He answered. The councilmen all looked around at each other.

"I'm not sure the council approves of your methods director Hunley."

"Desperate times, desperate measures, Mr. Chairmen." Hunley replied using Ethans words.

"And you Mr. Brandt, how can you justify this deception?" He asked me.

"I can neither confirm nor deny any details of any operation without the secretaries approval." I said once again. They looked at me like 'of course you can't'. We walked out, it was over. We did it!!

"Welcome to the IMF, Mr. Secretary." I told Hunley once we were out. He smiled and we walked out of the court room walking to his car and driving off. I walked out into the sunshine. It was a beautiful day to be alive. I saw Kensi standing on the stairs outside with Ethan, Benji and Luther. They all smiled at me.

"How'd it go?" Ethan asked.

"We're back." I told him smiling and hugging Kensi. I needed to ask her something important.

"So lunch anyone?" She asked all of us.

"Yeah" We all agreed mutually upon a pizza place where we could go and just talk about our previous mission together. I was interested in knowing her part in it. We sat down at our table and Luther, Benji, Ethan and I all looked at each other then at Kensi.

"What??" She asked skeptical she had a cut on her face from where a knife must've cut her when she was fighting.

"So what's your story?" Ethan asked.

"Well you know half of it." She told him.

"But the rest of us don't" I intervened.

"Okay fine. After I left you guys I stuck to my word and went to Iceland. I happen to have a house there and I stayed there for a couple months as I tracked down the people who shot me which happened to be Lane and Ilsa. So I used my IMF resources and got her using facial recognition. I learned she was British Intelligence so I went to Attlee. Long story short I've known him for a long time because he tried to recruit me..."

"Wait what???!" Benji exclaimed. She just smiled and laughed then continued with her story.

"I was 16 when I was recruited by both MI6 and the IMF. I obviously choose the IMF... Anyway... After I did that the pieces fell into place. I had to find Ilsa so I did by Attlees doing which led me to find her in Austria and the rest is history." She explained. I wanted to know more though, however, I would question her later. We just decided to have lunch with our colleagues for now. We laughed over things we had done over a year ago. It's been about a year since I'd seen her, that was particularly insane to me. Yet, I still loved her. After lunch was over we all decided that a couple days later we would get together again for dinner. We all walked out of the restaurant and went separate ways. I walked around with Kensi for a while but something was eating at me. I had made an extra key for my apartment and I really wanted to give it to her but I wasn't sure how to ask her to move in with me after all it and been a year since I'd seen her. I held her hand as we were walking around some park. We sat down on a bench and I took her hand in mine an held it for a second.

"I thought I'd lost you. It was hell not knowing where you were, if you were dead or alive." I told her finally. She smiled a sad smile at me.

"I know Will. I'm so sorry. But I needed to get him for closure." She explained, I nodded understandingly.

"So Kensi I was wondering, where are you going to be staying?" I asked chickening out at last minute.

"Well I was going to crash at Ethans or Benjis place for a while til I found my own." She told me.

"What would you say if I asked you to move in with me?" I asked her finally.

"Will, are you serious?? I don't wanna be a burden or anything.." She countered making sure I was okay with it.

"I love you, you could never be a burden. Please Kensi move in with me?" I asked her.

"Okay, okay I will." She said with a giant smile on her face.

"I love you." She added in.  
"I love you too." I replied. She then rested her head on my shoulder and we just sat there to watch the sunset til it got too dark to see and we walked back to my place hand in hand.


	26. Chapter 26

Kensi POV  
It had been a couple months since I'd moved in with Will, nothing super interesting had happened with the IMF. Little missions had popped up every now and then but nothing insane like what happened with Ilsa or Patrick Jane. I had been working more on my mentalist skills, going to some conventions, meetings, and classes as a normal citizen. It was really strange trying to be normal and blend in with society. Brandt and I's relationship had progressed we had gotten pretty serious, it'd been amazing, I loved him. Today I was walking home from a meeting at the IMF HQ in DC as got a call from Will. I answered knowing he probably wanted me to pick up some stuff before I headed home.  
"Hello?" I answered.  
"Hey babe, would you mind picking up some groceries before you head home? We have like nothing in the fridge currently..." I sighed, I thought I had gone shopping a week ago. The food disappeared so quickly living with Brandt.  
"Of course, I'll be home in like an hour then." I told him.  
"Okay love, see you then." He hung up, I quickly started walking the opposite direction towards the grocery store...  
***  
Brandt POV  
I had asked Kensi to go to the grocery store to buy some more time for me to prepare for my proposal. I had no idea how to do it until I consulted Ethan. He helped me throw most of it together. I had thrown together a fake case file that had her going on a little mysteries throughout the day, she would find it as she got home with the groceries. I would be gone and Ethan would be there to guide her through to make sure she got to the ending where I would be with a ring. I was really nervous about it, but had a good feeling it would go well. I couldn't imagine my life without her, when I lost her for over a year it was devastating, when the IMF was disbanded it added even more pressure on me. To have Ethan going after the syndicate and having absolutely no idea what was happening to Kensi on the other side of the world. I had hoped everything would go according to plan, but Kensi is very hard to predict, after all she was an agent of the IMF.  
***  
Kensi POV  
I had finally gotten home with some groceries, not a lot because after all I had walked home and only took as much as I could carry. Basically meaning I bought some fruit and veggies and some meat that I could cook. Until I could go to the store later. I walked in the door and saw a manila envelope on our small table in the kitchen. I quickly set everything down and threw the fruit and meat in the fridge.  
"Will?!!" I yelled, hoping maybe he could explain it before I opened it. But I received no answer. I cautiously walked over to it and opened the manila folder.  
"Agent O'Connell your mission should you choose to accept it..." I heard a voice coming from my living room. I pulled my gun from my waistband and proceeded slowly into the living room. I peered into the room, quickly turning the lights on just to be surprised by Ethan Hunt standing in the middle looking directly at me with his hands up.  
"Woaw, Kensi, chill." He laughed awkwardly.  
"Geez Ethan you know not to scare me like that. I could've shot you." I told him putting my gun back and going up to hug him. I hadn't seen him in a while.  
"What're you doing here?" I proceeded to ask him.  
"Well I need your help." He told me putting his hands in his jacket pocket he lead me back into the kitchen again. He picked up the folder and handed it to me. I looked inside and saw a picture of a quaint looking restaurant, however, that's all that was in the folder.   
"Is that it?" I asked him looking into his eyes, seriously confused as to what was going on.  
"Yeah that's all we have to go on so far, we need to go question the restaurant manager. The IMF believes that there have been illegal trades and deals of narcotics going through the restaurant that's erupted into a larger chain of large weapon terrorism. They also think it could have to do with your mission before I recruited you 2 years ago." I nodded, it added up in my head I was never updated after Ethan told me some other agent would be taking over my case as I thought I would be but I guess he had failed and gotten caught and the mission was handed off to someone else.  
"Okay so lets go check it out I guess?" I asked Ethan. He nodded and we both walked out the door and to the restaurant. Once we got to the restaurant we immediately decided it would be more fun to sit and eat before questioning the manager after all it was around lunch time. We placed our order and just started talking like old times. Our cover? A couple who was just out for lunch. Once our food got there I took a look and started eating. The waitress came back and asked how it was. Immediately I covered my mouth and looked wide eyed at Ethan and started coughing.   
"Uhhh does her dish have peanuts in it?" Ethan asked the waitress acting scared and flustered. He got up pulling me out of my seat and putting his arm around me.  
"Ummm.... Yeah, I think it does. Oh my god is she allergic???" The waitress started freaking out.  
"I'll fix it, come on honey let's go to the bathroom. I'd like to speak to the manager!!" He shouted leading me away and to the bathroom. Once we were inside the bathroom I stopped with the act and we just started laughing.  
"Always a classic" I said.  
"Love their reactions every time." Ethan laughed.  
"Think we've wasted enough time in here?" I asked, it'd been like 10 minutes or so. Ethan decided so, he walked out and was met immediately by a scared waitress and a guy who he assumed was the manager.  
"Oh my gosh I'm so so sorry. Your meals on us today." The manager tried to fix the mistake.  
"You know what I'd have half a mind to sue this restaurant for almost killing my wife!" Ethan yelled.  
"Oh my, well maybe we can talk this out in my office downstairs." The manager tried to reason with Ethan. I knew it was time to walk out of the bathroom. Ethan immediately grabbed my hand and we followed the manager down the steps.   
"Alright, listen we know you are running an illegal trade of narcotics and weapons through your restaurant." I spoke once his door closed. He froze when he heard those words and looked directly at Ethan.  
"Yes, we are but we didn't have a choice, this man you see he forced us to.. He had a weird accent, actually I might have a picture of him off the security tapes." He was surprisingly very helpful with the details and let us take a look at the tapes. It seemed easy, almost too easy but I let it go, I was only brought on to help Ethan with this, so I let Ethan run the mission as he saw fit.  
"So is that all you needed? You're not going to sue me?" he asked as I was on my way out the door. Ethan was behind me and answered.  
"No, you've given us the information we needed, it's alright, no suing." Ethan spoke. And with that we walked out of the restaurant. We were back on the street, walking to god knows where. Ethan pulled out his phone and tapped a couple things on there looking up the guy and seeing if he was on the IMF database and if he was if he had been picked up on any cameras recently. To our luck he had. We went to a building adjacent to where we knew he would be. It was a stake out, until we saw him it was late at night, this mission had taken the whole day, the sun had set and I still had no word from Brandt. Ethan led me up to the top of the building where we could get a clear shot to kill the leader in the illegal arms trading. However, as we reached the top I was not expecting what I saw. The rooftop was decorated with beautiful Christmas lights and there was some instrumental music playing in the background. I looked around and saw a little table with a white table cloth on it. Some wonderfully prepared food and a bottle of wine. I saw Brandt standing there beside it in a tux. I started walking over to him completely forgetting Ethan was there. Brandt walked to me as well.  
"Kensi Rose O'Connell it's been a wonderful 2 years with you as a girlfriend. And another 5 just being your partner and friend. It's been absolute bliss. You're the most amazingly, astounding, wonderful women I've ever known. From our first mission together I knew I had to have you. From the moment I saw you on that stupid mission briefing system I knew it was you I'd eventually end up with, as I got to know you my feelings only strengthened. I know it sounds crazy and appalling but when you got shot I knew I couldn't live without your sunshine in my life. It had been hell living without you for almost a year not knowing if you were dead or alive. I needed you, I went through a low point in my life then, it only proved I needed you more. So with that being said, Kensi Rose O'Connell, will you marry me?" He finished down on his knee. I was utterly surprised, tears were threatening to fall from my eyes as he got out a box and opened it to reveal a beautiful .  
"Yes"


	27. FALLOUT

“Do you, Kensi, take William to be your lawful wedded husband?” I looked around at our beautiful venue in the middle of no where. The mountains surrounding us, the gorgeous greenery, the cascading water down the mountains. It was peaceful, like no other place I would want to be to marry the love of my life.

“I do.” I smiled at Will.

“To have, to hold, to love, cherish, honor and protect?” I happily took a breath looking down at my white dress.

“I do.” I looked back up to my soon to be husband.

“Shield from terrors know and unknown? To lie, to deceive. To lead a double life. To fail to

prevent his abduction. Erase his identity.” I looked away to the minister conducting our wedding.

“What??” I asked, I looked at his face but I couldn’t make it out. He looked familiar, I shook the thought away and looked back to Will.

“Force him into hiding. Take away all he has known.”

“Stop.” I told him angry about the way this wedding was being steered towards. Just because I was a spy. What the fuck was this??

“In a selfish, futile, fleeting attempt...” He continued.

“Stop!” I yelled.

“...to escape your own true self.” Not planning on stopping anytime soon I noticed.

“Please, stop.” I told him tears streaming down my cheeks.

“And William do you choose to accept...” I shook my head.

“Don’t!” I told him begging him with my eyes.

“I do.” He said smiling at me gripping my hands tighter.

“No!” I told him. He couldn’t ever have a happy life doing this with me.

“You should have killed me, Kensi.” I looked back to the minister seeing Soloman Lane in his place. Suddenly, there were explosions behind Will and I hugged him close.

“I love you.” I whispered. The squealing of the brakes woke me up. Oh my god, just a dream. It’s okay. I looked up I was being sent to Belfast to get Ethan on a plane to Berlin where we would be getting black market plutonium.

“We’re here.” The cabbie spoke to me.

“Thank you.” I paid him and got out into the rainy cobblestone street where Ethan was living. I waited til the cabbie drove off before I knocked on the door. I expected him to recognize me the minute he saw me. Though followed procedures. Ethan opened the door with a smirk on his face.

“Fate whispers to the warrior.” I said holding the package in a dumbass mail officers uniform.

“The storm is coming.” He said to me in a low voice.

“And the warrior whispers back?” I asked him.

“I am the storm.” He told me. Smiling he stepped away from the door and let me inside with the package.

“My god it’s good to see you. It’s been what?” He asked me.

“A year.” I replied unhappily. Still bothered by my dream I had on the way over here. I threw him the package as I stripped out of the coat and hat I had on. He ripped it open, pricking his finger on the pad in front of him.

“IDENTITY CONFIRMED HUNT, ETHAN” a voice read out.

“You know I still expect an invite to the wedding.” He smiled at me.

“Of course, you know you’re getting one.” I told him sitting down in a chair he had at a table. Undoing my hair from the low ponytail I had in, shaking it out to get more comfortable.

“Good evening, Mr. Hunt. The anarchist Solomon Lane. Since you captured him, two years ago, his absence from the world stage has had unintended consequences. His syndicate of rogue covert operatives continues to wreak havoc around the globe. The CIA special activities division has relentlessly hunted Lanes elite network of hostiles. But many remain unknown and at large. The reminiscence of this extremist splinter cell refer to them self as The Apostles. They have synced it up to the policy of terror for hire. Making them an even greater threat. They are responsible for the recent smallpox outbreak in Indian controlled Kashmir. Along the borders of Children and Pakistan. Threatening one third of the worlds population. The Epidemic is being contained but intelligence would indicate that a new client has hired the Apostles for a more ambitious operation. They have been contacted by this man. An unidentified extremist known only by the codename John Lark. Author of this apocalyptic manifesto calling for the destruction of the current world order. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN PEACE WITHOUT FIRST A GREAT SUFFERING. It is believed Lark is responsible for the disappearance of Norwegian nuclear weapons specialist, Nils Debruuk. Dr. Debruuk security clearance was revoked after he expressed fiercely anti-religious views. Meanwhile, the Apostles have been in contact with elements of the eastern European underworld who are in possession of 3 plutonium cores stolen from a missile base in eastern Russia. This would indicate that John Lark and the Apostles are working together to acquire functioning nuclear weapons. NAST estimates that a man with Debruuks knowledge, using the materials in play, could complete 3 nuclear weapons in as little as 72 hours. These devices would be man portable and deployable anywhere on Earth overnight. In the hands of John Lark and the Apostles these weapons represent an unprecedented threat to the countless millions. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to prevent the Apostles from acquiring the plutonium using any means at your disposal. If you, or any members of your IMF team, are caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Good luck, Ethan. This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.” The voice read out displaying the photos and videos we had of the Apostles.

BERLIN

“He's late.” Benji said pointing out the obvious. I laughed I was hiding with the sniper rifle at the ready. My scope was thermal and I was ready to go dressed in all black, ready for the action.

“He's never late.” He said again.

“He'll be here.” Ethan consoled Benji.

“I don’t like it.” He said again.

“Awh guys he’s nervous.” I chided Benji to be quiet.

“There's something about this guy. He just... Really gives me the creeps.” Benji said again.

“It's OK. Relax.” Ethan told him not phased by the lateness of our guy we were meeting for the plutonium.

“I'm relaxed.” He told us.

“Mhmm.” I hummed out, not convinced.

“You don’t sound relaxed. Luther, does he sound relaxed to you?” Ethan asked Luther who was in our van.

“He sounds terrified.” He replied out to Ethan.

“I'm not terrified. I just have a bad feeling. That's all.” Benji said.

“I thought you said you were relaxed?” I breathed out.

“It's entirely possible to be relaxed and extremely uneasy at the same time.” Benji told me annoyed everyone was ganging up on him.

“No, it's not.” Ethan said.

“You do it all the time.” Benji told him.

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do”

“No, he doesn't.” Luther replied. I rolled my eyes at the antics I was seeing.

“I'm supposed to believe you're perfectly relaxed? Right here and now? In a dark alleyway? Waiting to buy dark market plutonium from a psychopath?” Benji asked him getting more and more uneasy.

“Benji, I wont let anything happen to you.” I chimed in trying to ease the tension.

“See, Benji, you're perfectly safe. You have the sniper on your side and Ethan.” Luther told us.

“That's easy for your to say. You're in the van.” Benji breathed out.

“Well, you wanted to be in the field, tough guy.” Luther told him matter of factly.

“And tonight, Luther, I'd like to be in the van!” Benji bantered back.

“He's here.” I told them snapping them out of the banter that was currently getting out of hand.

“Oh, God.” Benji breathed before he cleared his throat readying himself. They walked forwards to meet our dealer. The car pulled up slowly headlights making me close my eyes to preserve my night vision until they shut off. A guy got out of the car pointing a rifle at Ethan and Benji. I focused on him for a bit. The men got out and the car doors shut.

“Have that money ready, Luther.” Ethan told him. This was my time to stay quiet from my concealed place.

“Copy.” Luther said.

“Ethan? Kensi? Do you copy?!” He asked. I couldn’t reply but I looked towards the van not seeing anything abnormal until Luther opened the door and got a gun to his face. Fuck. I needed to get him out of there but I couldn’t shoot that would reveal my position and blow this mission. I slowly moved around out of the rubble concealing me, I threw my rifle over my back and hugged the wall as I made my way from my hiding place to the van. I stayed concealed until the moment arose for me to throat punch this guy. He had a gun to Luther and could use that against me.

“Are we finally gonna do this, or not?” I heard Ethan ask.

“I've survived in this business with a help of a voice in my head. This voice is never wrong. Whenever I meet you... It tells me the same thing.” I heard the dealer say.

“What's that?” Ethan asked.

“Nothing.” He replied. I looked around seeing what I could do was nothing so slinked my way underneath the van and readied myself there. Setting back up with the gun in front of me.

“I'm here to do business. Tell the voice to flip the coin.” Ethan said.

“What's that?” I heard them ask.

“This is a beryllium rod. It's just causing a reaction with the plutonium inside the core. That's that.” Benji said stepping away from the plutonium in the case.

“The money?” The dealer asked.

“The money. Bring the money. Luther, bring the money. We're gonna need that money, Luther.” Ethan said. I was very far away and heard a scuffle in the van.

“Kill them!” The dealer said.

“I've got it!” Benji said.

“Luther, do you copy? Luther?! Luther, come in.” Ethan begged. I saw the gunshots going off and decided to join in from underneath the van. Killing a couple of the dealers goonies on my way back from underneath the van I hugged the wall again slowly as I followed Luther and the guy from behind.

“Luther is not here right now. What can the Apostles do for you Hunt?” I heard him say through the earpiece.

“What do you want?” Ethan asked.

“You're boxed in, Hunt. Give us the plutonium. And walk away.” He told us.

“Benji, get the car!” Ethan told him.

“I don’t think I can do that.” Benji scuffled.

“Benji, get the car.” Benji finally realized what he was talking about and drove the car like a maniac towards where they were using his phone. He threw the plutonium towards the open door.

“We'll make you a deal, Hunt. Give us the plutonium and we won't kill your friend.” I saw he had Luther with a gun to his head.

“Don't you do it, Ethan! Not for me!” He pleaded with Ethan to get the mission done with.

“Kensi, you have a shot?” Ethan asked me.

“Bit of conflict arose I’m not in position but I can try.” I whispered to him revealing my position.

“I'm gonna count to 3.

One...

Two...”

“Luther, I'm sorry.” Ethan’s voice rang out and I pulled the trigger sending a .223 caliber round out of the gun and to the head of Luthers captor. He fell on the spot. I heard more fire going off down the hall of where we were. Benji grabbed an automatic and shot behind me while I shot behind him protecting Ethan and Luther on the ground.

“I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do.” Ethan said as he ran up to Luther as I looked for the other people shooting.

“We're good. Nice shooting Kensi.” Luther told Ethan and I. Ethan helped him up. He shook his ear out.

“Sorry about that buddy. I know the eardrum must be rattled.” I told him he just nodded.

“You're OK?” Ethan asked Luther.

“I should be dead.” He told him.

“We should all be dead! Why aren't we?” Benji asked no one in particular.

“Where's the plutonium?” Luther asked snapping our attention back to the mission at hand. Ethan started running back for it near the car that Benji had pulled up.

“It's gone.” He said. I dropped my head to my chest and looked up at the ceiling sighing heavily as I did.

“All of that for nothing, DAMN IT!” I yelled out. We all silently got into the car except Benji who drove the van in order to get Delbrook we had to hit him and bring him in ourselves. We drove our way back to headquarters in Berlin where we were met Benji who was dressing up into his newscaster outfit. We put the passed out Dr. Delbruuk on a bed and quickly set up a makeshift hospital wing in order to get him to believe that’s where he was. As we walked in I heard the news on the channel we were playing for the Dr.

“If you're just joining us, three massive explosions have gone off simultaneously in what appears to be a coordinated attack. This image is live in Rome. Looking towards the Vatican. It's as close as our cameras can get. It's believed that the Pope was in residence at the time of the blast. Also live, we're looking at the Jerusalem from just outside of the city. Also live, the holly city of Mecca. From the USS Ronald Reagan in the Red Sea, off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Radiation has been detected. Indicating that nuclear weapons were used in these unspeakable attacks.” I heard Benji rattle off the report as I stood behind the camera and tried to get a hold of Brandt texting him. I hadn’t had a reply in a couple days I was curious where he was this time. But knew this was the job we worked.

“No word on casualties yet.... But we can assume the death toll is catastrophic. Early reports suggest the weapons used would require a highly specialized knowledge that very few people possess. The question now is who would attack all three of this holly sites and why. The attacks occurred at precisely same moment. Just over an hour ago. At 4:00 AM EST. Within minutes of the attack Congress ordered an emergency recess and the Capitol building was evacuated. The President authorized... The White House has declared state of emergency. Placing the military at highest alert.” Benji read more from his fake news cast. Actually, he was pretty good at this, he could definitely do this after he decided to retire here. Suddenly, I was getting a call on my phone it was Ethan.

“Sir...” He said.

“It’s ma’am but yes go ahead.” I told him. Giving him something to reply to.

“No, he won't cooperate.” He told me.

“Okay… Have you tried electrocution?” I asked seriously. Looking to see a slight smile on his face in the monitor I was seeing him on he gave me the finger silently in the corner where no one else would see but me.

“Yes, sir.” He said and turned back to the doctor.

“If we read the manifesto. On the air.” He told me the information I already knew.

“Well that’s just not good enough, find another way.” I told him.

“I'm sorry, sir.” He said to me and hung up.

“Trading and global markets plummeting. Stand by, I'm told we're about to get some additional information.” I got up from my place behind some computers and handed Benji the document.

“I've just been handed a document from Nils Delbruuk, a nuclear weapons specialist, who claims to have built the weapons used in these attacks. I've been asked to read this manifesto in its entirety. There has never been peace without first a great suffering. The greater the suffering, the greater the peace. As mankind is drawn to a self-destruction like a moth to the candle the so-called defenders of peace: the Church, the Government, the Law work tirelessly to save humanity from itself. Well, it's not going to help you now. But by averting disaster they serve to delay peace. That can only come trough the inevitable baptism of fire. The suffering and bringing mutual understanding. It’s the first step for the ultimate project of…” He told the camera.

“Go.” I heard Ethan say. I pushed the button to release the doors on the cell and they fell around us. Benji and I walked up to Luther and Ethan.

“Did we get it?” Benji asked.

“Of course we got it.” Ethan replied Benji took off his mask and voice changer revealing his true face.

“I told you we'd get it.” He said.

“I don't understand?” The doctor asked.

“The attacks didn't happen?” He asked us again.

“The car accident you were in - that was an hour ago.” Luther told him

“I was driving the other car.” Benji told him smiling at his work.

“What's done is done. When we say it's done.” I pipped up as I took a needle full of serum out and plunged it into the doctors neck. He passed out.

“Any word from Brandt?” Ethan asked me. I shook my head walking away from them.

“She’s gotta be a mess.” I heard Luther say.

“I can hear you.” I told them.

“I’ll fix it.” Ethan said.

“And I’ll kill you.” I told Ethan in a sing song voice. He laughed with the others as we made our way out of HQ the others trailing behind me.


	28. Chapter 28

AERIAL BASE RAMSTEIN, GERMANY

“Sir.” Ethan greeted Hunley as we walked up the tarmac to meet him near the C130 we would be boarding.

“Ah Kensi O’Connell. I’ve heard so much about you. It’s an honor to meet you. Brandt has told me many things.” I smiled at him. I had hoped this meeting would go over well. 

“Speaking of Brandt, any idea where my fiancé is?” I asked him raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms.

“That’ll have to be a whole other conversation Kensi. Sorry to do this to you, I know you’re probably worried sick.” I rolled my eyes. What the hell was everyone’s problem? I wasn’t worried I was PISSED. He took himself out of field work no one has seemed to have heard from him except director Hunley. Hunley cleared his throat getting back to business.

“Ethan. That phone you unlocked lead us to a server in Iceland but we managed to decrypt the communicate between John Lark and this woman: Alanna Mitsopolis, activist and philanthropist whose charity work has earned her the nickname the White Widow.” We both looked the file over she was pretty. Completely what I had expected from the name.

“It's all a front for her real trade: arms dealing, money laundering. Extensive political connections provide her with protection. Lark and the Widow were meeting tonight to negotiate the delivery of an unspecified package. Which we can only assume is our missing plutonium. They'll make contact in a private lounge at the Grand Palais in Paris. During her annual fund-raising event. The details are in the file. If Lark isn't there by midnight the Widow will leave. And sell the package to the highest bidder. Which gives you two hours from now to find Lark.” Hunley continued as we walked closer to the plane’s loading doors. 

“Sir, I think there’s something you need to know.” Ethan started. 

“I'm gonna stop you right there. You had a terrible choice to make in Berlin. Recover the plutonium or save your team. You chose your team and now the world's at risk. Some flaw, deep in your core being simply won't allow you to choose between one life and millions. You see that as a sign of weakness. To me, that's your greatest strength. It also tells me I can count on you to cover my ass. Because coming over here from CIA was a lateral move. Some say a step down. But I did it because of you. Don't make me regret it.” Jesus Christ this man never stopped talking. He was nice as can be but NEVER stopped. The planes engines started to shut down the noise going obsolete. 

“What do you think you're doing, Erica?” Hunley asked her. I eyed the guy behind her. He was not dressed like he was about to be skydiving out of a plane anytime soon.

“It may be your mission but this is the CIA’s plane. It doesn't take off without my say-so.” The woman continued.

“We don't have time for this.” Hunley tried to stop her agenda. Someone must have been angry he left the CIA.

“I have a team in Paris ready to grab Lark as soon as he gets to Palais. A G5 standing by to rendition him to GITMO where waterboard is waiting.” I rose my eyebrows Guantanamo Bay an interesting place to visit. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

“Spend 24 hours we don’t have to pull a confession. We can't trust from a man we haven't positively identified? No. We need reliable intelligence and we need it now. This scenario is precisely why the IMF exists!” Hunley argued with the woman. I rolled my eyes.

“The IMF is Halloween, Alan. A bunch of grown men in rubber masks playing trick or treat. And if they had held on to the plutonium in Berlin we wouldn't be having this conversation.” She argued back. I laughed. 

“Something funny?” She looked at me. I sized her up debating how far I could get with my mind games. 

“Lady. It doesn’t sound like you’ve ever been in the field. If you had you would know the people you’re close to or your team would NEVER leave you in the arms of a hostile force even if the world depended on it. Sounds like either you don’t have a good team or the CIA is seriously messed up in the head... Or maybe, perhaps, a relationship gone wrong. Was that it? Were you abandoned as a child and have trust issues because daddy and mommy left you? Or did daddy want a boy and you just had to fill the role?” I asked her stepping over many lines but at that moment I didn’t care. 

“Kensi…” Ethan whispered to me. He looked shocked as did everyone else. He pulled me away from the huddle for a minute to collect me. 

“You’re angry. I get that, but try not to pull them all apart just yet. I know you want Brandt back. We just have to wait and see what happens, okay? After all, we have a mission.” He talked down to me. I didn’t like that at all I just rolled my eyes and walked onto the still open loading door and sat down waiting. 

“And that's why I want one of my own men on the scene. To appraise the situation. Agent Walker, Special Activities.” My ears perked up eavesdropping on their conversation. 

“His reputation precedes.” Hunley said. 

“You use the scalpel. I prefer a hammer.” She rebuttled.

“The answer is No. I have operational authority here. Direct from the President. You have a problem with that, you take it up with him.” He told her, annoyed.

“I have already and he agrees with me. My man goes. Or no one goes.” She told him. Ethan then joined me on the plane sitting next to me.

“Kensi. What the hell was that??” He asked me as the loading doors shut with the three of us ready to go.

“I needed a mind to pry apart and spit in.” I told him anger dripping off my tone. 

“Well, you sure are a pistol, aren’t you?” Agent Walker interrupted our conversation walking onto the plane.

“Kensi O’Connell. Agent Walker, special operations for the CIA.” He carried on.

“Pleasure.” I said sarcasm dripping off my tone. 

“The White Widow has spies in every level of government. This plane is posing as commercial airliner so we can jump into France undetected. The Widows meeting Lark in a VIP lounge at midnight. No one can be a bidder without a pre-issued electronic ID band. We've acquired the unique RFID number for Larks band allowing us to locate it...with these.” He handed us all phones. As he handed Walker the file.

“Find that ID band, you find Lark.” Ethan wrapped up the briefing.

“Then what?” Meathead asked. 

“Then... I assume his identity. Make contact with the Widow. She takes us to the package.” Ethan told him, he didn’t know how we worked. So Ethan made a demo he scanned Walker’s face and showed the computer to him that copied his face into a mask. It was impressive but not to him.

“People actually fall for this shit? How do you intend to make Lark cooperate?” He asked trying to poke holes in the plan.

“I bump him in the crowd. In 10 seconds he'll look like any other drunk at the party. Incoherent,

completely pliable. After Ethan borrows his face you walk him out the front door and hand him over to Sloane’s extraction team.” I told him pulling out our beautiful needle filled with the drug.

“You're not getting rid of me that easily, Hunt.” He told Ethan completely ignoring me. 

“That's not what this is about.” Ethan told him starting to get annoyed. 

“Sure it is. I know you don't want me on this detail. But let's face it. If you made the hard choice in Berlin I wouldn't be here.” He told Ethan trying to ruff us up and it was working for me I was ready to kick him off this plane with no parachute on. After all we were at about 35,000 ft. No way he would make that fall alive.

“Listen here.” I said standing up ready to fight him. Ethan stood with me and took my arm pulling me behind him begging me not to speak with his eyes. He was not ready to get on this guy’s bad side yet. 

“If you hadn't gun down your Syndicate agent they sent you to find. I wouldn't be here. That's right. I know all about you. You're why we don't have living witness who can identify John Lark. Or the Apostles.” He told him, I smirked from behind Ethan.

“If you have a problem with my methods you can always stay behind. Your mission, should you choose to accept it. Isn't that the thing?” He bombarded us back.

“Two minutes to decompression.” A voice spoke as the light turned red. I started putting on my suit in silence placing the helmet on my head and the oxygen tank on my front clipping it into my helmet. 

“Suit up!” Ethan announced putting on his suit with Walker in tow.

“The Widow is meeting Lark in 30 minutes.” He gave us more time details. 

“10 seconds to decompression.” The voice reminded us.

“Is your oxygen on? There's no atmosphere at this altitude. I don't need you blacking out on me.” Ethan asked Walker as he was struggling with his oxygen tank his glass fogging up. He fixed the situation quickly. I would’ve just let him black out. Who cares? We didn’t need him.

“Hey, your heads up display has built-in guidance system. Follow it to the target. Open your chute when the system says. Not before, definitely not after. Or the last thing that goes through your mind will be your kneecaps. Is that clear?” He asked Walker. I walked over to the door that was let down for us to jump. I noticed storm clouds below us with thunder and lightening coming from them. 

“Crystal.” Walker wised up listening to Ethan’s words finally. Ethan walked up next to me leaving Walker behind us. 

“We gotta talk. We need to rethink this.” Ethan said walking back up to Walker preparing to warn him about the storm.

“Out of my way, Hunt!” He said to him. 

“Walker, we have a problem. There's a storm and we need to...” He stopped talking I turned around and saw his oxygen line was disconnected. Fuck. 

“Enough talk. I'll see you in Paris!” Walker told him walking past me and jumping before I could do anything.  

“ETHAN!” I yelled to him. He waved his hand at me telling me to go after him. I did as I was told knowing he’d be okay. I dove out of the plane after Walker following him but not too closely I avoided the lightening as best I could. 

“Altitude, 25000 feet.” My HUD started to talk to me. 

“Walker!” I heard Ethan yell.

“What's the matter, Hunt? Afraid of a little lighting?” He asked. 

“You should be, that volt coming out of that ‘little lightening’ can kill you.” I told him as I agilely kicked him down a little more closer to the bolt.

“Altitude, 20000 feet.”

“Son of a bitch!” I heard Ethan say. 

“You good Ethan?” I asked him as I popped out of the storm.

“Yeah. Fine. Walker? Do you copy? Walker? Kensi, you got eyes on him?” He carried on as I was near Walker.

“Yeah. He got struck. Oxygen tank looks like it’s gone.” I told him a smile on my face.

“Altitude, 15000 feet.” 

“Kensi!” He yelled to me.

“So what? He’ll lose a couple brain cells. He’ll be fine.” I told Ethan as he moved closer to us. 

“Altitude, 10000 feet.” Ethan grabbed onto me I was holding onto Walker.

“9000.”

“Shit! Kensi give him yours.” I sighed Ethan let go of me so I could do my thing.

“FINE. We’re getting more air now so I’ll be fine.” I released my oxygen from my front where it was connected and clipped it onto Walker connecting his oxygen line to the tank. 

“8000.

7000.

6000.

5000.

4000.”

“Walker! Walker!” Ethan yelled trying to get into contact with him. 

“3000.”

“Deploy! Deploy! Deploy!” I pulled Walkers chute and mine at the same time letting go of him and maneuvering myself to the drop zone.

“Oh, God!” I heard Ethan say as he released his chute from where he was. Falling down off the dome and landing close to me.

“Looks like you lost your oxygen.” I heard Walker say from behind me as I ran up to Ethan making sure he was alright. 

“I gave it to you, meat head. You’re lucky I didn’t just let you fall down to your death.” I told him glaring at him as I took off my helmet collecting my chute. I walked to the stairs on the roof unzipping my suit as we made our way into the nightclub. I heard him laugh behind me.

“Let’s just get this over with before I decide you're not worth my effort.” I told him. 

“I thought you already did.” He told me a smug smile on his face for sure. 


	29. Chapter 29

We jumped down onto the rafters in the club and surveyed the area. Ethan pointed to some big black stones leading down a hallway.   
“That's where the Widow is meeting Lark.” He told us just to make sure we knew. I stripped out of my flight suit revealing my black dress. I fluffed my hair a little. Ethan looked at me like it was a weird thing to do.   
“What?” I asked them both as they were staring. They just shook their heads and we went down the stairs to join the party. There were flashing lights everywhere and a DJ playing some music over the speakers. It was very loud and full of drunk teenagers fist pumping and dancing to the music.   
“Walker!” Ethan yelled trying to hear him over the music on our comms.   
“Ethan, can you hear me?” He asked.   
“Barely.” I yelled to him trying to make myself heard over the music.   
“I’ve got him.” Walker said.   
“Say again? Where?” Ethan asked him.   
“He’s headed for the bathroom.” He told us I looked around trying to find the restroom. We all met up near a clearing by the bathroom.  
“Well boys I guess this is where I leave you.” I told them handing Ethan over the needle and vial. He pocketed it. They looked at me and looked back towards the door nodded and walked away. I stood outside my arms crossed. Then I noticed someone coming towards me.   
“Ilsa??” I asked her just then I heard shattered. I grabbed her arm and ran towards the bathroom.   
“Kensi?? What’re you doing here?” She asked me happily before she wrapped me in a hug.   
“Hey. Mission.” I told her voice clipped as I walked into the bathroom seeing the Asian man with a gun to Ethan’s head and Walker on the floor. Ilsa quickly shot the man on top of Ethan while I stood behind her.   
“Shit.” Ilsa breathed out.   
“Sorry. I was aiming for his chest.” She told Ethan as we all gathered around the body.  
“What are you doing here?” Ethan asked her getting defensive.   
“It's good to see you too.” She replied normally.  
“Sorry, I'm confused. You are?” Walker jumped in making sure we didn’t forget him.  
“An old friend.” Ethan kept it short and simple I muffled a snort.  
“Cancel extraction. We're code Blue. Send sanitation.” Walker told whoever was listening.  
“That was my team.” He explained. Though no one seemed to care as Ethan continued questioning Ilsa.  
“You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?”  
Some guys suddenly came through the door. I quickly grabbed Walker’s head and tilted it back.  
“That's it. Just take it easy. That's it. Just keep your head back until the bleeding stops.” I told him while Ethan and Ilsa just looked at each other.   
“What is it?! You want some?!” Ethan asked them in French.   
“You're not here by accident. Who sent you?” I asked her picking Ethan’s side in this.   
“I can't tell you that.” She told us.   
“What are you doing?” Walker asked Ethan as he put the bracelet on his wrist.   
“I have a date with White Widow.  
“He had a date with the Widow. You look nothing like him.” Walker made his point gesturing to Ethan’s face.   
“Now, we have to hope they never met.” Ethan told him matter of factly.   
“Hope is not a strategy!” Walker raised his voice this time.   
“You must be new.” Ilsa smirked still looking at Ethan.  
“I have no other choice. White Widow is our only lead. I got to be this guy for 5 minutes.” Ethan said trying to persuade us.   
“Don't do it.” Ilsa told him as he walked out a warning in her tone.   
“What? What is it? What aren't you telling me?” Ethan asked her again this time.   
“You don't understand what you're involved in.” She told him. Oh no. This was Ethan’s weakness being told he didn’t know things was his pet peeve.   
“I don't understand what I'm involved in? I don't understand what I'm involved in?! What am I involved in?” He started off yelling and ended with a question in his voice. I smirked. She was right. He really didn’t know.   
“If you're meeting the Widow she leaves in 3 minutes.” Walker told him looking at his watch.   
“Ethan!” Ilsa tried again.  
“I'll make it work.” He told her.   
“Ethan!” I tried for her.   
“I'll make it work!” He yelled and walked out of the bathroom.  
“Name's Walker.” Walker introduced himself to Ilsa.   
“Yeah? You're welcome.” She told him and walked out. I sighed looked out the corner of my eyes to the door. I really didn’t feel like getting between those two. We all knew there was something there but they wouldn’t ever admit that amongst themselves.   
“She’s almost worse than you.” Walker told me. I walked up close to him brushing my arm against my leg to grab my knife that was hidden in the dress. Walker was focused on me the entire time so he didn’t notice. I backed him up against the wall only inches from his face. I looked into his blue eyes. Bringing my hand with the knife close to his face.   
“No one is worse than me.” I told him grazing my knife across his cheek. I took a step back and turned around to walk out the door.  
“Kensi…” He grabbed my arm holding the knife. He spun me around making the knife clatter to the ground. He grabbed my waist with his other hand pulling me flush against him. I gasped not expecting this of all things.   
“What do you think you're doing?” I asked him. His eyes searched mine. I flashed back to a time when Brandt and I were in a similar situation.

“Kensi… Why the hell do you insist on making everything a fight?” He asked me.   
“I just don’t understand why you would want to do this!!” I yelled at him.  
“I’m being ordered to. It’s not my choice!” He yelled back. I walked away and to the door of our place planning to go on a walk and not further the fight. He grabbed my arm pulling me back pushing me up against the door.   
“Don’t walk out on me we’re going to settle this.” He told me.   
“When Brandt?? How could we possibly when you’ll be gone for months?? This isn’t fair. We were supposed to get married in three months…” I started out yelling but the words turned to a whisper and a tear came down my cheek. He brushed it away with his free hand and just held me against him.   
“I know. I’m sorry. We will, we’ll just have to post pone.” He told me. I looked everywhere but in his eyes.   
“Look at me.” He said. I stole a glance towards his eyes.   
“I love you. We will get married. It’s just a minor setback right now.” He told me.  
“I love you too.” I whispered out knowing that something would always get in the way. 

My emotions faltered as I looked into Walker’s eyes.  
“You okay?” He asked me.  
“I’m fine.” I said my voice clipped as I looked away from him. He tilted my chin up forcing me to look at him he let go of my arm as he did so.   
“I’ve only known you a couple of hours, I know. But… If I’m overstepping tell me—” He muttered looking deep into my eyes. Trying to string words together.   
“You’re overstepping.” I told him my eyes glazing over snapping out of my emotions.  
“You didn’t even hear what I had to say.” He said to me.  
“You want me to open up to you about my problems. I’m hurt and suffering Walker there’s nothing else to talk about.” I snapped at him telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. He looked stunned then let go of me all together. I walked away from him and out the door to find Ethan. I stole a wristlet off a girl who was too drunk to care about who she was going home with and walked through the door to find Ethan kicking someone’s ass and the White Widow on his arm. I saw a guy to my left try to get to them. About to punch him Walker beat me to it. He looked at me and silently handed me the knife I had dropped in the bathroom before linking our arms and walking us outside to the White Widow’s car. Where we would be going to her house to negotiate a deal for the plutonium.


	30. Chapter 30

The car was nice but I needed a shower. I was ready to relax for a little bit and now I had the opportunity to because the White Widow was only concerned with Ethan who she believed was Lark. I was squished in the back seat with Walker. We pulled into what looked like a replica of the white house with beautiful grounds and shrubbery. We got out of the car walked into the house we were met with a bunch of men holding guns. Not very conspicuous. I ignored the twitch to reach for my knife. We walked into an adjacent room where I was met with a map on a table I looked at it briefly as the man in front of me started to talk.

“The French government will receive the asset they took in today. Delivery will be by air to the finance ministry at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning. Another motorcade under heavy police escort will transport him on along this root. We'll create a diversion at this intersection. Here. Motorcade will automatically take the pre-planned alternate root, here. Where we'll extract the asset.” The henchman told us.

“Extract the asset?” Ethan asked I crossed my arms trying to avoid being in relaxed mode but couldn’t help it, the adrenaline from the day had worn off and I was ready to take off my shoes take a hot shower and sit in bed and watch a movie. Ethan looked down at the photographs in front of us I recognized Soloman Lane immediately.

“The asset?” Ethan wanted to confirm it but the people in front of us seemed just as interested as we did.

“We've payed a great deal of money for this information. They gave us everything but this mans name. You don't happen to know who he is, do you?” The White widow told us as she came out of her bedroom changed and ready to go to bed. I was immediately jealous. As Ethan was about to step in and talk I spoke sooner cutting him off in his tracks.

“His name is Solomon Lane. British special agent turned anarchist. He used rogue covert operatives to create a terror network called the Syndicate. Sabotage, assassination, mass murder.” I told her annoyed looking up into her face, she was older but pretended to be younger with the blonde hair.

“Ugly as they come.” She said still processing the information.

“He was captured by American agents two years ago.” Ethan said shortly.

“Since then he's been under never-ending interrogation. Passed around from one government to another. To answer for his crimes.” Walker continued while I was trying to clear my head.

“You seem displeased, Lark?” Alanna said with a question in her voice.

“Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. I came to Paris for plutonium.” Ethan told her.

“Well, there must be a misunderstanding. I'm just a broker. I connect a buyer and a seller. My seller isn't interested in cash. So if you want the plutonium...” She basically gave him the answer. 

“Extract Lane and make a trade.” Ethan finished the thought rubbing his face with his hand.

“That's right.” She said. She didn’t need to confirm the fact. It was known.

“How do I know the seller has what I want?” Ethan asked her, a decent question I walked around to the other side of him. As they pulled out a briefcase opening it to reveal the plutonium.

“A down-payment in good faith. The courier will deliver two more within 48 hours. In exchange for him.” She smirked at Ethan proving her point.

“All right. What happens after diversion?” Ethan asked. His question was cleverly avoided. But the pieces fell into place for him as they did with me, they wanted to exterminate everyone involved.

“Kill everyone? That's your plan?” Ethan asked her trying very hard to hold his cover.

“There'll be no witnesses.” The henchman spoke up.

“What's my guarantee that Lane walks out of this thing alive?” Ethan asked him. Trying to cover all the bases.

“He's in an armored box. We'll pull him out when it's safe. You want your plutonium? This is the price. Or do you draw the line at killing cops?” The man asked forcefully leaning forwards threateningly I stood my ground hand inching towards my knife.

“That's John Lark you're talking to.” Alanna spoke to the man beside her.

“I've murdered women and children with smallpox. I have no line.” Ethan replied stone cold. It took all I had in me not to thrust myself across the table and slit the man with sandy blonde hair and mustache to match.

“Right. I’m sorry, you two, I don’t know your names.” She directed the question at me.

“Josephine.” I blurted out without thinking, cover intact. Walker looked at me silently.

“Rick.” He answered for himself as well.

“Josephine, Rick, John. Perfect, well let’s get you guys a room.” She told us leading us down a hallway pointing out our rooms to us. I opened the door to my room and walked inside without even a glance towards Ethan or Walker.

“Sleep well everyone, busy day tomorrow.” She told us and walked off in her own direction.

“Josephine…” I heard behind me.

“I’m not in the mood.” I told whoever was behind me.

“Kensi, c’mon…” I didn’t answer I walked straight into the bathroom and looked into the mirror I saw Ethan behind me in the mirror. I looked at myself feeling anger and annoyance. A moment of weakness had me wanting to punch the mirror image of myself, Ethan caught this and quickly intervened.

“Kens. What is it??” He asked me as he turned me around and held me at arms length watching me go through the inner emotions that were starting to boil to the surface. I had so much anger I wanted a fight so I was going to pick one.

“You know what my problem is?? You got us into this and my fiancé has disappeared because of you!” My voice rose as my anger did.

“Kensi you know that wasn’t my fault, this is the job you knew this going into it.” I pushed his arms off of mine and took a sparring stance. He caught on and did the same.

“No Ethan I didn’t imagine at all the mission would take this long. I don’t know why I’m here when it could be someone else like Benji.” I told him as I threw a punch his way. He blocked me and grabbed my fist twirling me around and holding me against him I looked at us in the mirror.

“I don’t know why you think just because you’re getting married that you would get a free pass out of the job. And you know why Benji couldn’t be here, he’s not as great an operative as you.” Ethan said I threw my arms down and thrust my hips backwards. Quickly, turning around and throwing a leg at his torso hitting his spleen a couple times. He was fueling my anger as I expected. But, what I didn’t realize is that he was doing it on purpose with carefully calculated attacks.

“The problem is I’m here with people that aren’t my fiancé.” I told him curtly.

“Kensi…” He stopped for a second I glared at him and he took his stance again and threw a weak punch at my face. I knew I could’ve ducked it but I didn’t want to. I smiled in the wake of the immediate pain I felt.

“The problem is there was a time when I did this work without Brandt, I don’t need him now but I want him here with me. He got under my skin and he’s a weakness. It’s not my fucking nature and I just need to know that he’s okay. But he won’t even contact me.” I told him. Spinning his direction with a kick Ethan noticed it and dodged out of the way.

“Walker’s hitting on me as well, it doesn’t help the process. AND Will kept pushing off our wedding. That’s why invitations have yet to go out because the date keeps getting changed.” I failed to mention my dream about Soloman Lane. I advanced towards Ethan. Pushing him into the wall of the cramped bathroom.

“He proposed a year ago, Ethan. What am I supposed to think? I also feel further away from you guys. Ethan you trained me, we had a fling. Maybe I don’t know Will as well as I think I do.” I said as I started wearing down the energy I felt, I started getting more anxious. A bout of sadness hit me. I covered my face with my hands. Ethan started to come towards me realizing we were done sparring.

“Oh Kensi. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know all of that.” He told me as he held me in his arms I broke down immediately letting my walls I had built come down. I fell into him letting him support my weight.

“What am I doing??” I asked him not expecting an answer. He turned on the water for the shower and basically undressed me realizing I needed it.

“I’ll tell you. You’re going to take a shower, I’ll be right here waiting for you to get done. I’ll even sit on the toilet waiting for you. Then we’re going to sleep. I need your badass skills for tomorrow. I’ll fix it Kensi, the burden isn’t only on you O’Connell. I got you.” He told me as he gingerly pulled back the curtain for the shower and let me walk into it. I took off my bra and underwear throwing them over the rod and sat down knees to my chest letting the hot water consume me. I closed my eyes and thought of happier times crying because I didn’t have those anymore.

“Kensilina that’s what he used to call me sometimes.” I told Ethan my voice harsh.

“Yeah I remember. Was it like a pet name or something or did he do it just to annoy you?” He asked me.

“Both.” I told him my voice flat.

“Seems odd for him to go dark. I’ll get some info from Hunley maybe I can track him down as a side mission for you?” Ethan asked me. I just nodded staying silent.

“Kens… I know you don’t want to hear it, but I love you, I hate seeing you like this. It won’t be like this forever, I promise. And when he does wise up and contact he’ll have hell to pay from me. Shit, I’d marry you tomorrow if it’d make you happy. I don’t know why he’d put that off you’re too great to let this get to you.” He told me. I smiled imagining the fight between the two that would ensue. I knew Brandt the annoying doofball that I fell in love with. I did have feelings for Ethan long ago. I sniffled and laughed a little. The truth is I didn’t know what was going to happen. But after about another 30 minutes in silence I decided that I should at least wash off and get off to bed, after all it was late. Two agents of the IMF don’t do well off of little sleep although we were trained to be able to handle it. I shut off the water and heard Ethan scuffle around for a towel for me, he had also grabbed my phone off the floor. He opened the curtain and wrapped me in the towel immediately being very careful not to steal a glance at me. He scooped me up and took me over to the bed. I laid down staring blankly into space. He set my phone on the dresser beside me, then went rummaging through the wardrobe and came back with a silk night gown for me. He turned around as I changed into it and got under the covers. He smiled at me as he went to turn off the light and leave.

“Wait… Will you stay with me?” I asked him voice horse. He hesitated for a moment and then started removing his suit he was in, until he was in his boxers.

“Of course Kens whatever you need.” He climbed in next to me and held me against him. Soon enough sleep came, I didn’t even hear the vibrating of my phone as it rang on the table next to me.


	31. Chapter 31

I woke up in the morning to a banging on the door and it opening and slamming. I was still groggy but opened my eyes,  
“Oh, didn’t know you guys ran operations like this…” I heard the arrogant son of a bitch say. It immediately re-spurred my anger.  
“It’s none of your business.” I spit out sitting straight up causing Ethan to wake up. I got up out of bed immediately to push Walker out of the room.   
“Sorry, geez, just thought you should know it’s time to go.” Walker said to us casually. He was already awake and ready to go. It was slightly suspicious but I let it slide for now.  
“Guys. Calm down. Let’s just steal the criminal we captured a year ago.” He said as he swung his legs over the bed and rubbed his face, the stress was eating him alive. I stomped off into the bathroom to get dressed into my underclothes grabbing my dress as I left. I walked out and straight to the wardrobe trying to find something to wear that wasn’t a tight dress. The guys were ogling me with their eyes, I smirked a little as I made my way to the dresser. I didn’t find anything that I thought would work for this operation. We were abruptly met with a knock on the door the boys looked to it and Walker opened the door a smidge. He said a couple hushed words and within seconds there were clothes in his hand for all of us. I listened but couldn’t catch anything, I casually put my dress down on the bed.   
“Suit up.” He said throwing the outfits to both Ethan and I. I got dressed quickly. The clothes weren’t anything fancy. Some black jeans, t-shirt, and a bulletproof vest and regular shoes; THANK GOD! After I got dressed I walked over the side table and grabbed my phone off of it, what I saw confused and irritated me. I stuffed it into my pocket and threw my hair in a pony tail. Ethan noticed the aggressive move and gave me a look, I just shook my head. Once all of us were dressed we looked at each other and nodded. I grabbed my dress as the silenced mood fell over us and we walked towards the door ready to embark on the mission to steal the asset.   
As we walked out we were immediately ushered towards the mover vans we would be using to get from point A to B.  
“She will not fit. She will have to go in the other van.” Alanna’s henchman told me. I stood there biting my tongue.  
“No, we’ll make due. We’re all together or we don’t go at all.” Ethan spoke up in his authoritative voice. The henchman nodded and let us get into the van. I crouched between Ethan and Walker as we drove off to our first destination. Okay mission time.   
Lane was being transported by helicopter. We were the ones on the ground to be there when he was moved from air to ground. Ethan drove us into the alleyway where we wouldn’t be since by the prison transport guys. I was squished between them crouching down as there was no middle seat. Both Walker and Ethan took a look in the back where the gunmen for Alanna’s version of the kidnap were sitting. We had devised an entirely new plan to take her role almost completely out of it. Ethan got out of the van and stuck a camera on the pillar. He stood there for a moment contemplating probably if we were actually going to be able to pull this off.  
“Hey, what happened between you two?” Walker asked me.  
“Honestly, Walker nothing.” I looked over to him, he actually looked attractive in his gray shirt bulletproof vest on top.  
“Okay.” He answered and went back to looking at Ethan.  
“It’s just he trained me, he knows me well. I needed to take out my anger on something. So we sparred. That’s all.” I told him omitting the part where Ethan held me and put my broken pieces back together. My phone chimed out in my pocket. I took it out looked at it quickly, it was Ilsa. What the hell. I ignored it and kept my mind on the task at hand as Ethan re-entered the van. After a bout of silence Walker started asking questions about Lane.   
“Is it true Lane gassed a village of 2000 people?” Ethan squirmed in his seat.   
“Yes.” He muttered after some thinking.   
“Is it true he brought down an entire passenger plane just to kill one man?” Walker sure did have a lot of questions and a lot of information that wasn’t available to most people.  
“Yes.” I told him as I was ready to get this mission over with. I wanted him to stop talking.   
“Is it true that he...” he started talking again, I rolled my eyes.  
“Walker, whatever you heard. If it makes your skin crawl, it's probably true.” Ethan cut him off telling him the logistics.   
“Holy shit! You're the guy that caught him, aren't you? How long do you think he's gonna keep that to himself?” Walker asked us. I looked to Ethan, seriously how long would Lane keep vital information like that to himself.   
“We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.” Ethan answered.   
“Lark…” I started needing to tell him something immediately, hoping the cover would still be in tact with the guys in the back.   
“Joe, look they’re coming.” I nodded getting ready, abandoning my thought and placing it on the shelf for now. Ethan started the van once they were passing us, to get to the armored truck I braced myself against the dash as Ethan floored it towards the truck, we hit it perfectly and it went over the edge of the road and into the water. Ethan threw the van into reverse and back into the alley. As expected we took a couple bullets from the cops, but they didn't do much to the windshield. We backed up and hit through the metal grates that were boarding up the road to get to the alley. Ethan hit some cars getting the van straightened out and on the road. As he did this the guys in the back were more than likely falling around, Ethan smiled as he saw them falling out of the van. He drove like a maniac through the streets of Paris, avoiding being caught by the cops would be a miracle I thought to myself.   
“WATCH IT HUNT!” I yelled at him as he almost ran over some people. Meanwhile, while this was going on, Luther had a great chance extracting Lane to a different location. We had a scuba diver out to get him from the truck we plowed into the river. We drove through a narrow alleyway until we got the van stuck. Ethan and Walker kicked out the wind shield and we made our escape. The motor cycles were waiting for us, I smiled as I got on. Starting it immediately I smiled as the engine purred. Quickly, I sped after Walker who was already gone.  
“Hunt, where are you?” He asked as I looked behind me and didn’t see Ethan.   
“Oh shit, Ethan I’m on my way back.” I told him as I made a deep U-turn.   
“Don't wait for me! I’ll meet you at the garage.” He told us through our earpieces.   
“Ethan… I’m on my way already.” I said to him. I sped my way back into the alley way as Ethan flew past me, I made another deep U-turn not even wanting to know who would be after us. I caught up to Ethan as the people behind us were shooting I dodged as best I could but ended up with one in the arm. Ah fuck not again. At least this one wouldn’t put me out of work.   
“Benji, do you copy?! Ethan yelled over the wind that we were speeding through.   
“We copy. Go.” He said.   
“Change of plans, Kensi and I are blown. Need extraction!” He told him.   
“We're on our way!” Benji replied.   
“Ethan, where the fuck are we going??” I yelled at him as he sped over the St. Louis Bridge. We drove through the traffic taking an immediate right. I started swearing to avoid the cars coming towards us head on. Weaving my best through them as Ethan did the same In front of me.   
“SHIT!” I yelled as I saw the cop cars. But Ethan just sped up and took a slight right leading us into a parking garage. Just as soon as we were in there we popped back up into the daylight. I followed him blindly through the cars. We had very close and almost fatal hits. I heard the sirens getting closer behind us. We were driving by some monument and took a left. Slowly, picking off the cops following us. We got to a round-a-bout where everywhere I looked there were cops surrounding us, we were done. Ethan revved his engine, I did the same mimicking his movements then he shot off in a direction, I followed. Ethan sped up and looked back at me.   
“ETHAN! WATCH OUT!” I yelled but as he started braking a car in front of him hit him, throwing him from his bike. I quickly raced up to him on reaching a hand out for him.  
“Get on, get on!!” I yelled to him. He grabbed it and swung himself on holding me to keep steady. I sped towards our escape. I quickly shut the bike off and supported Ethan to the manhole where we jumped in and down the hole to a waiting Benji and Luther. I caught my breath as we drove in silence, I looked down and saw a bag headed Soloman Lane I smiled, safe and sound. Benji threw Ethan a rope to dock us to the almost sidewalk I wasn’t sure how to describe it. We walked up the stairs to see a waiting Walker. No words were spoken I waited as Benji and Walker opened the doors to our little garage where we had stashed a car for our getaway. I was met with a cop looking at her phone. She looked at us, she would’ve seen Luther about to push Lane into the car. A hurt limping Ethan ready to get into the car and the two men opening the doors. Benji looked at Ethan who looked at me. I moved forwards with Ethan keeping in his shadow.   
“STOP! Stay where you are!” The girl yelled we could all understand her but I acted as a translator. She pulled a gun on us.   
“Get in the car.” Ethan told us.   
“Nobody move! Show me your hands!” I told the group what she was saying.  
“Go away, please.” I told her in French.   
“Show me your hands!” I told everyone again.  
“Don’t worry, please. Go away, please. Go away, please.” Ethan spoke up this time. Before she could think she was shot, I felt bad for her but quickly brushed it away as our other ‘team’ came forward.   
“Alanna wants a word with you.” The man said to us. He wasn’t a specialized agent so he wouldn’t shoot that well.  
“What do we do with her?” One of the other men with the stranger asked.  
“Kill her.” The man who spoke to us said. I looked at Ethan and saw the look on his face as the man walked up to the girl they shot. I knew him maybe better than I knew anyone. I quickly pulled my gun at the same time Ethan did. I shot two he shot the other two. It was over as abruptly as it started.   
“You will be fine. You will be fine. I am so sorry.” Ethan pleaded with the girl getting her to stop her bleeding with her own hand, I jogged back to the car.   
“We gotta go!” Benji told us all.   
“Come on!” He said as the guys all squished into the car, we threw Lane in the trunk I was in the front seat with Ethan.   
“The name's Walker by the way.” I heard Walker tell them.   
“Was the little car your idea?” Benji asked him annoyed. He was in the middle. We drove by some cops and were on our merry way.  
“Benji, hush, at least we didn’t put you in the trunk.” I told him. Suddenly, I felt a huge pain in my ribs most likely at least bruising them, worst case cracking one of them. I yelled in pain.   
“Jesus Christ!” Benji yelled out to us. I wasn’t worried about anything now except getting this vest off. It stopped the bullet with its plates, thankfully. Ethan quickly pulled underneath a bridge.  
“What the hell was that?!” Benji asked again.  
“Everybody, out!” Ethan said to us. You didn’t have to ask me twice. I undid my seat belt and opened the door falling onto the ground beneath me. Luther, Benji and Walker helped me up. Ethan sped off with Lane in his trunk.   
“You okay to walk?” Walker asked me. I nodded leaning to my good side in pain. He went to grab my upper arm and I yelled out again.   
“What the hell?? When were you shot here??” He asked me.  
“Motorcycle ride.” I told him briefly.   
“Alright, Benji would you be so kind.” Walker asked as he lifted my arm around his neck to support me. Benji doing the same with the other.   
“Alright kids, come on.” Luther told us taking the lead to our new location. I took off my bullet proof vest and shirt and laid down on the wooden pallets trying to fix my breathing. Walker walked over to the car as Ethan pulled into our little makeshift interrogation room. Walker grabbed him out of the car’s trunk, pulling the bag off of his head.   
“Ohh… Look who's still alive.” Benji greeted Lane. Ethan immediately walked over to me. I was tired and really didn’t want to have a lecture at this moment. To my surprise and the others he walked up and kissed me quickly, then my forehead.   
“You okay?” He asked looking over my body. Seeing my rib it was bruised badly. He looked at my arm with the through and through wound. He sighed heavily.   
“Kensi…” He started.   
“No, no it’s okay. It's my fault.” I told him immediately.  
“It’s good to see you again Ethan, Kensi.” Lane commented.  
“Shut up.” We both told him at the same time, I looked at Ethan and laughed a little.Cringing when the pain shot through my chest.  
“There's a microwave tracker in his neck.” Luther told him holding up a timer.  
“Got it. You know what to do.” Ethan said as he grabbed the thing from Luther.   
“Let me just assure you this won't hurt... enough.” Benji told the man we stole from the police. I sat up. He stuck some morphine into his neck and stepped away.   
“90 seconds. You and the Apostles think we're gonna trade you for the missing plutonium. I'm here to tell you that's never gonna happen.” Ethan told him demandingly.  
“Your mission, should you choose to accept it... I wonder, Ethan, did you ever choose not to? Did you ever stop and ask yourself who's giving you the orders or why? When everyday the master you serve is one step closer to ending the world.” I looked down at the ground. We knew who they were coming from, the president or our secretary.   
“Strange accusation coming from a terrorist.” Luther pipped up near Lanes neck trying to extract the chip the authorities had put in him.   
“60 seconds.” Ethan informed him.  
“Terrorists are schoolboys, desperate for attention. Hoping to shape public opinion through fear. I don't care in the least what people think or feel. In my experience they don't do either for very long.” Lane continued on his monologue.  
“I suppose that justifies bombing factories or bringing down civilian aircraft. Or strapping me into explosive vest!” Benji brought up the instance from a year ago. Lane chuckled.   
“Consider it unfinished business, my funny little friend.” Lane threatened him. I stood up and walked toward him ignoring the pain in my body.   
“Luther?” Ethan asked. The sirens were getting closer to us. They knew where Lane was.  
“Kensi, sit.” He told me in one breath I stopped in my tracks.  
“Almost there.” Luther answered.   
“You see the end as clearly as I do, Ethan. Governments the world over are descending into madness. The Syndicate was created to tear them down. Brick by brick.”  
“The Syndicate was a pack of murdering cowards!” Benji spoke up again. I started walking towards Lane again until I was next to Ethan. Face to face with the devil himself.  
“The Syndicate was civilizations last hope! A chance to smash the old world order. That hope is gone now because of you and your pathetic morality. You should have killed me, Kensi. The end you always feared, it's coming. It's coming, Ethan. And her blood will be on your hands. The fallout. For all your good intentions.” Lane spoke.   
“Time!” Ethan told us.  
“Got it!” Luther took the chip out of his neck and put it into a drone.  
“Where’s Will?!” I shouted at Lane. He just smirked. A tear reached my cheek I quickly wiped it away and looked over to Ethan to see him looking at me, slightly confused and slightly aware of what I was talking about. The sirens started fading away. I turned away from Lane.   
“Get him up!” Ethan spoke after a second of silence. Walker lifted him out of the chair by his straight jacket.   
“You're mine now!” Ethan spoke before Walker pulled him off into a different direction.  
“You got any gauze on you Luther?” I heard Ethan ask.  
“Yeah, one second.” I felt the whole world crashing down on me yet again. His words reached a part of me that I just knew something was wrong, Brandt was in trouble and I was the only one who could find him.   
“Kensi?” I heard Ethan ask as he started wrapping my arm. I was lost in my thoughts of anxiety, whirling around me like a tornado.   
“Kens, you okay?” His words were far away and Ethan’s features were blurring out. I lost the strength in my legs and collapsed into him.   
“Luther! Help.” Ethan called out to him. I felt arms around my back and Ethan trying to wake me up. But I collapsed into the darkness around me.


	32. Chapter 32

I woke up abruptly. Ethan and Luther above me, looking worried.   
"What's wrong?" I asked them.   
"Kensi you passed out..." They told me, I nodded, remembering what put me on the floor.  
"Could be internal bleeding... Could be loss of blood, could be that you just haven't eaten today." Ethan started rattling off diagnoses. I started to get up. Ethan reached out his hand towards me to pull me up a little. I grabbed it and let him pull me up. It stung my ribs. I grimaced and phrased my next words carefully.  
"Ethan, seriously, I'm okay. Don't worry about me. How long was I out?" I told him a lie. I was sore and battered and he knew it. But I was trying to get him to stop babying me. Luther stood up to give us some space. Benji walked off with him to where Walker went with Lane.   
"Only about a minute. I have to go to a meeting, will you be alright?" He asked me. I smiled he was still worrying.   
"I'll be okay. Wait. Is it with Alanna?" I asked him. I was curious what ploy we were playing with Alanna.   
"Everyone is perfectly capable of taking care of you here." He told me simply not answering because he knew I would come if it was with Alanna.  
"It is, isn't it? Ethan... Let me come with you, we can play up the cover." I told him already making mine in my head.   
"No, Kensi it's too dangerous. Plus we don't need to give away that I'm not Lane, just yet." He said to me softly stroking my hair.   
"Ethan... Please." I begged with him, looking into his eyes.  
“No Kens. Not yet. You need to rest, we’ll reconvene. Okay?” He asked me, I realized his decision on this was final. I nodded, slowly. He helped me to my feet.  
“You know what you need to do Luther?” He asked him. Luther nodded solemnly. He smiled at me.  
“See you soon, Kens.” He gave me a soft smile leaning in towards me holding my waist pulling me towards him. Luther turned away at that moment and walked off to make himself busy.   
“Ethan.” I whispered not being able to tear my eyes away from the floor. He lifted my chin forcing me to look into his eyes.   
“Kensi… I need you to be okay.” He whispered into my ear. As he pulled away I could see he was completely serious.   
“I will—” I started but was abruptly cut off with Ethan’s lips on top of mine. My eyes shot open, he knew I was engaged but hadn’t heard from my fiancé in about 3 months almost 4. Fuck it, I thought. I leaned into the kiss my hands sliding up into his hair. Ethan smiled into the kiss and deepened it when he felt me give in. I realized at that moment that this was something he’d been wanting to do for a while, something he wasn’t able to do because he was my best friend and Brandt had gotten to me quicker than he did. Ethan thought he wasn’t there for me when I got shot back in India. He was everything I had come to know and love. Brandt and I had moved too fast. We needed to take a step back I thought. All my thoughts of this just confirmed I had no idea what I was doing. I needed to think about this later. Ethan’s tongue danced with mine and my thoughts faded away. Slowly, he broke away from me looking into my eyes.   
“I’ve been wanting to do that for a while. Just between us.” He whispered smiling as the words left his mouth. He let his grip of me go and walked off to the car, getting in and backing out of our sanctum. I sighed walking over to where my shirt was sitting and threw it back on before I called out to them. We needed to come up with before Ethan got back. 

ETHAN’S POV  
I walked up to this quaint riverfront where I was told to meet with Alanna. She was standing there just staring out at the distance. When I approached she turned to me.   
“You're just full of surprises, Lark.” She told me her facial expression didn’t change one bit.   
“Your brothers plan was bad from the word go. You'd have lost all your men and Lane  
would've been killed in crossfire. I had to improvise.” I told her my eyes never leaving hers.   
“Why not say that in the first place?” She asked putting on a façade of hurt.   
“Because I don't trust your people. Especially not your brother.” I was very careful not to say I didn’t trust her.   
“Family, what can you do? So where's Lane? Certainly not at the bottom of the Seine.” She looked towards her brother standing off in the distance.   
“I have him. He's safe. Where do I meet the courier?” I asked her trying to get this conversation back on track.   
“Let's talk about the woman.” I gave her a confused look as the words came out of her mouth. Certainly, she had met Kensi but didn’t know a thing about her. Clearly, my effort to keep her on track didn’t work.   
“Woman?” I asked.   
“She was with you at the Palais. Zola saw her again today. She tried to kill Lane. She had a chance to kill you but she didn't. Why?” She implored. I nodded, she was talking about Ilsa.   
“We have a past. It's complicated.” I told her keeping it short and simple.   
“Well, I'll make it more complicated for you. My price just went up. Someone killed four of my men today. I assume it was her. I want her, Lark. And you're gonna bring her to me. Otherwise you don't meet the courier and the plutonium goes to the highest bidder. I'd hate for her to  
come between us.” I cringed inwardly. Knowing my next words needed to prove loyalty to her. She was skeptical after the kidnapping of Lane.   
“She's yours. At the meeting. Not before.” I told her, she took a step towards me, I stepped back avoiding what I knew would’ve been a kiss.   
“Go to London. Instructions will follow.” She said curtly. Not too happy about me dodging her attempt. I turned around and walked away. I walked down a path with pillars for a building I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going but I noticed Ilsa in the corner of my eye. I took her down a series of paths before I turned around where she would find me. She turned around looking at me, I walked in sync with her to the trees where we wouldn’t be seen. She walked to me.   
“I knew if I followed her you'd show up eventually.” She told me removing her sunglasses.   
“You okay?” I asked, I had hit her with my car when she was chasing me on the motorcycle.   
“Ilsa, I'd never...” I started again hoping to regain her trust which I was positive I had lost.   
“I know you had your reasons.” She said cutting me off.   
“You need to walk away.” I said to her hoping she would take the warning and leave.   
“I can't do that.” She said looking to the side hope leaving her.   
“You weren't at the Palais to kill Lark.” I inquired.   
“No.” The answer I was expecting fell out of her mouth.   
“You were there to protect him.” I told her.   
“Yes.” She said to me.   
“And you killed him to protect me. You wanted Lark to break Lane out. No, you needed him  
to break Lane out. Because you have to kill Lane.” I put the pieces together.   
“Who's making you do this? MI6. Why?” She had a constant stare on me that answered my questions as they came.  
“After we captured him in London they tried to bring Lane home through diplomatic channels. But too many countries want their pound of flesh. A man like that, what he's seen. What he knows about British intelligence. They can't have him talking to foreign government, ever.” She explained the basics for me but didn’t answer my question.  
“That's not what I'm asking. Why did they send you?” I asked again.  
“This is how I prove my loyalty. This is how I come home.” Her words confused me.   
“But you were out!? You were free?” I blurted.   
“We're never free, Ethan. I've spent two years undercover with Lane. To them I'm as much of a threat as he is. I kill him or I never stop running. Now, tell me where he is?” She told me. This was screwed up, if the IMF knew that MI6 was putting Ilsa through this that means they might be planning to do the same to Kensi.   
“I can't help you.” I told her unhappily. I wish I could get her out, she deserved it. She was an amazing agent that just needed someway to cope and leave this work.   
“I'll get to him one way or another. Please, don't make me go through you.” She asked and without another word walked off. I walked back to the car I took out to meet Alanna and drove back to headquarters debating a way out for Ilsa but couldn’t seem to find one that would get her out fast enough. She needed to complete this mission with us and I would find a way to do that. I drove up seeing Benji, Luther, and Kensi staring at me looking to see where we would go next. If they had finished the plan I devised by the time we got to London we would be in the clear and Walker would never be a free man again.   
“Luther, you get the truck I asked for?” He nodded and held up the keys.   
“Benji?” I asked him.  
“Done and done boss.” He smiled at me happily.  
“Perfect. I’ll get Lane.” I told them as we walked off to get Walker away from him.


	33. Chapter 33

We knew the plan forwards and backwards, visualized it in our heads multiple times. Ethan was snoozing in the back near me and Walker. He woke when his phone started ringing. Hopefully, with the details of the next part of our plan.

“Yes?” He answered.

“I am.”

“Yes. Where do I go?” He asked the last question and he hung up. Quite pleased with himself. We drove off to our pre-arranged spot where we would be keeping Lane until we needed him. It was an abandoned subway station we had used on one of our previous missions. As we walked near where we would be placing Lane, I noticed Hunley come out of the shadows.

“Mr. Secretary?” Ethan asked him what he was doing here and how he knew we were here. Although it was all apart of a plan.

“I've prayed to God that it wasn't true.” He said to us all.

“Well, in his defense, sir, if Ethan hadn't intervened a great many people would've been killed.” Benji spoke hoping to stop this madness.

“Yes, Dunn, I'm sure that the good people of Paris and the nation of France as a whole will take that into account. So, what the hell happened?” Ethan shifted his weight looking uncomfortable. Benji and Luther threw Lane in a makeshift cell and put a sedative in his neck and a camera on the wall. He passed out immediately. I stood there with Ethan explaining the situation to Hunley.

"We met with the Widow in Paris, we agreed to capture Lane and in return she would put us in contact with a courier." I explained. 

“At which point we were told to come to London. And await further instructions.” Ethan continued and watched as Luther and Benji walked back towards us.

“And what happens now?” He asked seeming very calm about all of this.

“Now? We meet the Widow in 20 minutes. She's gonna take us to courier who'll hand over our missing plutonium in exchange for Solomon Lane. Or in our scenario... Benji.” Ethan explained the ‘plan’ to him. Opening up the computer to get the mask software running. I crossed my arms, happy with the plan.

“Jesus!” Walker opened his mouth, if he didn’t shut it soon I was going to actually kill him this time.

“I'm sorry, what?” Benji asked Ethan appalled that Ethan even had the thought.

“Luther, Kensi, and I are gonna take you to courier while Walker stays here and guards the real Lane.” Ethan told the plan in simple terms so everyone understood the outcome.

“Absolutely not!” Walker said to us.

“Wait, wait! Why do I have to be Lane?” Benji asked as Luther gestured to himself and I. He nodded and seemed to understand why it had to be him.

“Benji.” Ethan said to him, getting him go along with it.

“Our mission, my mission is to recover that plutonium and I will do so at any cost! Even if I have to trade Lane. The real Lane!” Walker told us as if we didn’t already know what the plan was.

“And I'll never let him go.” Ethan told him assertively.

“When the Apostles realize that you're playing games you'll lose the plutonium. Again!” Walker yelled at him.

“You let us worry about the Apostles. I was in their organization for a bit. Infiltrating and gathering information.” I told him warning him not to cross a line.

“As it stands we have a bigger problem.” Ethan continued.

“A bigger problem?” Hunley inquired.

“Ilsa.” Ethan just stated. I fucking knew it. I knew she had problems but she was out of the game or so it seemed. When she showed up in Paris though I had an inkling that she wasn’t there for pleasure.

“Ilsa? Our Ilsa? Ilsa Faust? How's she mixed up in all of this?” Benji asked him directly throwing the conversation towards Ilsa.

“She's been ordered to kill Lane. Direct from MI6.” Ethan spoke.

“Look. Wait. So that was her in Paris? On the bike?” Luther continued putting the pieces together.

“Yeah.” Benji gestured his arms at Luther making sure the point was heard.

“Ethan, she tried to kill me!” I yelled at him making a point gesturing to my rib cage.

“No, not you, Lane.” He told me as I stood there annoyed at everyone.

“Yeah!” Benji emphasized my point.

“Not us, Lane. She tried to kill Lane. She has no choice.” He told us, I knew he was right but I wanted to prove a point here to get Walker off the trail.

“And she'll kill me!” Benji emphasized.

“I'm not gonna let that happen!” He said to him.

“Ethan, how exactly are you not gonna let that happen?” Benji asked, wanting a solid answer that wouldn’t be given to him no matter how much he wanted it.

“I'm working on it.” He told him.

“Oh, he's working on it.” Benji said to me. I smirked.

“Tell that to my ribs, Ethan.” I said to him backing Benji up on this one.

“Right now we don't have a lot of time. We have to start getting ready for this meeting.” Ethan told all of us being authoritative and dictator like. It was an interesting light to see him in. I have to admit it was to my favorite.

“The meeting is a trap. The White Widow is working with the CIA. She has been since the beginning. Bargaining for immunity is her stock and trade. Capturing the plutonium and the Apostles and John Lark buys her a lot of good will with the Americans.” Hunley explained to us.

“But if Sloan knew the meeting was a trap why didn't she just tell us?” Luther spoke up this time. 

“Because in her mind anybody could be John Lark. Including one of us. And now her suspicions are confirmed. According to that dossier a trail of electronic evidence connects Hunt to the theft of smallpox from the CDC. It also links him to a lengthy correspondence ending with the recruitment of Dr. Debruuk. And of course Hunt handed over the plutonium to Apostles himself. Now, those facts coupled with a long and incriminating history of rogue behavior collaborate a CIA narrative that Hunt has snapped. And the search for Lark is nothing but a cover to hide the fact that Lark…” Hunley told us.

“...Is me.” Ethan said defeated.

“Ethan would never do that. You must know this!!” I raised my voice to get my point across.

“I gotta hand it to you, Ethan. Normally when people refer to you as your own worst enemy it's just a figure of speech. I'm afraid Sloan has got some questions for Kensi and her as well.” He said as Ethan opened the dossier and saw Ilsa’s photo next to mine.

“The Widow offered her up at no extra charge. And Kensi, I’m sure you’ll go without a fuss.” He said eyeing me. I scoffed.

“Unlikely, sir.” I replied.

“And where did Sloan get this information?” Ethan asked as his eyes slowly made his way up to me. He knew this would happen. He knew because he talked to Ilsa. Being directly involved put us in a bind.

“She didn't say. She did, however, grant me the opportunity to bring you and Kensi in on the condition that I terminate this mission. And hand over Solomon Lane personally.” Hunley spoke.

“Sir, you can't do that.” Ethan told him desperately.

“Hunt!” Hunley yelled at him trying to get him to abandon the wild goose chase.

“No, I know Lane. He has no intention of going back.” Ethan spoke trying to get our secretary to understand the gravity of the situation.

“That's why we're taking him back!” He rebuttled.

“Which means that's exactly what he wants us to do.” I spoke slowly and collectedly.

“Ethan.” He tried to reason.

“Sir, what do you think, this is a coincidence? That Sloan just happened to find this? Lane had it sent to her! He know how she'd react. Just like he knew the Widow would turn us in. Don't you see? This, sir. This is the trap! We're being directed.” Ethan started to spiral throwing his hand on the dossier.

“Hunt!” This time Hunley yelled at him crossing his arms across his chest.

“Sir, there are still two plutonium cores in the wind!” Ethan tried again. Hunley knew we were the only people who could get them back.

“And you lost them!” Hunley yelled again trying to get him to see what he was doing.

“In fairness, sir, we all lost them.” Benji said.

“Respectfully, sir. You weren't there.” Luther spoke up trying to defend Ethan from the blows he was getting.

“You would’ve done the same if you were.” I told him. Siding Ethan on this.

“So, making excuses for him is your full-time job now?! Good God, Ethan. Don't make this any harder than it already is. I can no longer protect you! Don't you understand that? This is as close as you're ever gonna get to that plutonium!” Hunley yelled at him getting out of control. I was really having to ask myself if this was real were we really being pulled from this mission to pursue something else.

“Sir, you don't actually believe this?” Ethan asked him sadness in his voice visible. I turned around, I couldn’t listen to this.

“I believe I've been given a choice to protect you or the IMF. Which is why I'm bringing you in.” He stated more calmly now.

“And if I refuse?” Ethan asked.

“What do you think he's here for?! You think he's some observer? He's an assassin! Erica Sloan’s number one plumber.” Hunley lost his temper yet again walking towards Ethan.

“You go rogue, he's authorized to hunt you down...and kill you.” He said to us.

“You’re going to have to go through me.” I told him spinning back around, twirling my knives in my hands.

“It's the job. No hard feelings.” Walker said to both of us. I scoffed, of fucking course not.

“Except it, Ethan. You've lost this one. What's done is done.” Hunley said to Ethan.

“No, sir.” Ethan replied.

“No? I'm not asking you. I'm giving you a direct order. This mission is terminated. Now! Stickell, he's your friend. Would you, please, talk some sense into...” Hunley started on Luther. As this was happening Ethan grabbed the tranquilizer Benji had set down on the table in front of us and stabbed it into his neck.

“I'm sorry, sir. But you left me no choice. There's 15 minutes before we meet the Widow. You want the plutonium? We're the only ones who can get it for you. You're in or out?!” Ethan asked Walker.

“In.” Walker replied almost immediately.

“Well that was a quick change of heart.” I said to him putting my knives back into their places on my person.

“What are you doing?” Luther asked him as he walked up behind where Hunley was passed out.

“Benji needs to get ready.” Ethan told us.

“No! Ethan...” Luther tried to reason with him.

“There's no time, Luther. I need you to trust me.” Ethan said to him. I knew Luther trusted him without a fault. This was for show. Luther helped Benji up and they ran to go create the mask of Soloman Lane.

“You all right?” I asked him as I walked in towards both men in the cell.

“Yeah, I just... Gotta a bad feeling about this one.” Benji said to us as he put his voice changer onto his neck.

“You’ll be great Benji. I won't let anything happen to you.” I told him reassuringly. We quickly switched Lane and Benji’s places. So that we were carrying the real Lane out and Benji was passed out in the chair we had put Lane in just moments earlier. We walked out of the cell all together waiting for Ethan now.

“If you don't hear from us...” Ethan told him waiting for him to finish the sentence.

“I'll do it my way.” Walker told him. I nodded at him.

“Don't take your eyes off him.” Ethan reiterated as he walked towards us weapons loaded and ready to go ‘meet the widow’. We hid within the complex watching Walker interact with Lane through the iPad Benji set up. He took the camera off the wall and smashed it.

“Enough games. Let’s get you out of here.” Walker told Benji.

“Where's Hunt?” He asked.

“He's gone to the meeting. With a copy of you.” Walker told him. The plan was working.

“Calm down. Call the Apostles. Warn them.” I cringed. If anything I would’ve changed that line.

“I have no way of contacting them. For their safety and mine. But I do have an extraction team and satellite over-watch at pre-arranged rendezvous. They'll know as soon as we leave the building.” Walker said to him.

“No. I'm staying here. I haven't finished with Hunt yet.” Benji stayed stubborn as Lane would.

“Why did you have to make this so fucking complicated?!” Walker yelled at who he thought was Lane.

“I don't understand what do you mean?” Benji asked him.

“The deal was simple. I help you frame Hunt. You give me plutonium. You're wasting time!” Walker yelled again. He was making it very easy to get proof on him that he was in fact John Lark.

“There cannot be peace without first a great suffering. The greater the suffering, the greater the peace.” Benji quoted the words off Dr. Debruuk’s manifesto.

“When I wrote those words I wasn't referring to your peace. Or Hunts suffering.” Walker replied.

“The old world order needs dismantling and we have the tools to dismantle it. All you seem to care about is that Hunt lives to take the blame. That's not anarchy. That's revenge.” Walker told him seriously.

“Yes, it is. And when I have what I want the Apostles are getting the plutonium.” Benji replied to him. Walker fed up, walked away. He spun around another thought on his mind he wanted to get out.

“Hunt's the only friend you've got. You're only alive today because he didn't have the guts to kill you!” He spat out.

“Sloan is right. The IMF is Halloween. Nothing but grown men wearing...” He paused realizing what we were up to. 

“What?” Benji asked trying to hide his smile that we had debunked his plans and revealed his real identity. Walker advanced towards Benji tearing the mask off his face.

“It's just the job. No hard feelings.” Benji regurgitated his words to him. Hunley had since ‘woken up’ and walked up behind Walker a gun to the back of his head.

“I've ruined your day, haven't I?” Hunley asked him. Walker quickly disarmed him pointing the gun in Hunley’s direction and firing although it wasn't loaded.

“And you were doing so well up until then.” Hunley chided.

“And I think this one's loaded. You want to find out?” Hunley asked him as he pulled out his second gun he had within his coat. Benji tore the mask fully off and grabbed the unloaded gun from Walkers hand. Walker walked out of the cell his arms up with Benji and Hunley on his tail. Benji reloaded the gun and walked him out towards our hiding place.

“So, how did I do?” Benji asked us as he joined us in a circle around Walker and Lane, the real Lane.

“I never had a doubt.” Ethan told him happily. I smiled at Benji’s work.

“I'm beginning to see why you guys enjoy this so much.” Hunley said to us.

“Hats off, Mr. Secretary.” Benji smiled to him.

“Man's a natural.” Luther said.

“Welcome to the team, sir.” Ethan and I said to him in unison. We looked at each other, giving a slight smile.

“You're making a mistake.” Walker tried to reason with us.

“No, the mistake was mine when I saved your life over Paris.” I spat out at Walker.

“Should’ve let you fall to your death after the ‘little’ lightening hit you.” I continued.

“This proves nothing. I'm playing a role. Just like you are. Trying to recover that plutonium.” Walker tried again to turn us away from him.

"Sure. Just like Brandt will come home tomorrow and everything will be alright." I told him sarcastically. He blinked at me knowing that I had an inkling of the whereabouts of Will. He realized he'd been foiled at that moment.

"Trying to get close to me. That was a smart move Walker, I won't lie. But if you really wanted to impress Lane or I, you should've just kept your nose clean, away from me." I told him. He frowned he knew I had a plan for his demise. 

“That doesn't explain why you gave Sloan the dossier and tried to frame Hunt.” Hunley tried to get the confession out of him and stay on topic. All of us knew the truth, he was John Lark.

“He makes a good point, Lark.” Ethan said his name and popped the ‘k’. Walker showed no emotion.

“He's paranoid. Delusional. Just like the dossier says.” Walker said again.

“So where did Sloan get the dossier from?” Hunley asked him.

“I have no idea.” Walker tried again.

“I do.” Hunley’s phone rang out. Erica Sloans voice coming through the speaker. I smiled. I was starting to warm up to her. Walker froze.

“Did you get all that, Erica?” He asked her.

“I did. I don't appreciate being used, Walker.” She told him.

“Opps… Bad boy.” I smiled wickedly the words falling out of my mouth like a waterfall.

“Where would you like him delivered?” Hunley asked her.

“I'll come to you.” She said. Suddenly, the lights were off and we were in the dark. I quickly pulled my gun. A team of about 20 guys came into the area and charged us.

“Nobody move! Put them down! Drop them! Hands in the air! Weapons down! Drop it! Drop it! Weapons down! Right now!” They said, I slowly put my gun on the ground and put my hands on my head. Ethan took a while to put his down trying to tell them everything was alright. I looked at him through the flashlights being shown on us. Urging him to throw it down, we didn’t know who these people were. They could be the CIA.

“I thought we had a deal?” Hunley asked Erica.

“We did and now we don't. There's too much at stake here for me to take any chances. I'm bringing you all in. Along with Walker.

“The plutonium is still out there!” Hunley tried to reason.

“And I don't trust a living soul in that room to get it. We'll sort out who's who in Washington.” She said. Ah what a bitch. Back to square one, Erica. I was going to tear her a new one if she ever saw me again.

“Erica!” He yelled but she had already hung up on him.

“Sir. It's all right. Let's just do what she says. The only real threats are in this room and we have them.” Ethan told him as the team moved forwards.

“Do you? Go!” I realized the mistake immediately. This was Walkers team. Probably most of them Apostles with the syndicate. They turned on the actual CIA team shooting them, dead. I quickly reached for my knife and threw it at Walker's shoulder, hitting him. He groaned and ripped it out of his body throwing it to the ground in front of me. I quickly grabbed my gun off the floor and shot at Walker missing since Ethan pulled me behind a pillar. I kept shooting anything that I thought was a ‘CIA operative’.

“Where the hell is Lane?!” Walker shouted into the darkness. I noticed semi-auto fire in the building knowing it wasn’t us nor Walkers followers. I ran behind Ethan to get closer to finding Lane. One of the men found Luther and grabbed him by the collar. I quickly took the shot and killed him.

“Ethan!” He shouted before he could even realize the man was dead who was holding him. Gunfire was everywhere and I was trying to avoid it best I could. I maneuvered to the pillar across from Ethan hiding in the shadows.

“Oh, no! Man down! Somebody, help!” Benji yelled. I looked at Ethan, making sure he had my back on this. He nodded silently and I sprinted through the gunfire to Benji’s side.

“What’s wrong? Oh my god.” I said as I noticed the knife wound. I applied pressure the best I could until Luther appeared behind me with Ethan in tow. The gunfire had pretty much stopped and we were alone again. Lost Lane again.

“Sir?” Ethan asked as he applied pressure on top of my hands.

“Ethan, I tagged Walker but he's on the run. You gotta get him.” Luther told him. Hunley grabbed Ethan by the shirt.

“Go.” He breathed out. Ethans hand released mine and he had a moment.

“I'm sorry, sir.” He told Hunley.

“Go.” He breathed out once more. His eyes shutting. I released the pressure I had been holding on the wound, realizing one of his vital organs was punctured and he wasn’t going to have a chance. Ethan sighed looking to me, I nodded at him, he knew I couldn’t go with him, I was injured and I would just injure myself more if I ran with him. Ethan stood up about to run off.

“Ethan. Wait!” He stuck the tracker into his neck so we would know where he would be.

“Get that son of a bitch!” Luther yelled to him as Ethan ran off.


End file.
